Are German nipples the worst?

[Crackerofdoom]

I just learned the word for nipples in German is Brustwarzen

The literal translation is "breast warts"

Is this the worst direct translation or are there more out there?

There's no word anywhere in the world, in any language that isn't safe from the prowling lips and tongues of the native Brit. Who can be relied upon to steal it, mispronounce it, and (usually) misuse it in one fell swoop

Hmm some forms of Denglish are very very painful. Handy as a mobile phone is just the start of it. I don't think this is a peculiarly British habit.

Why is a raccoon a washbear? Do they wash their faces a lot?

I don't, they just are.

I also love Eichhörnchen. Try saying that after a few drinks.

Isn't a Handy usually pronounce Hendy?

Has anyone ever noticed that butterfly is a beautiful word in many languages as well as in English
Butterfly
Mariposa : Spanish
Schmetterling: German
Farfalle :Italian

Isn't a Handy usually pronounce Hendy?

Yep. Very much so.

Same in Korean.

@cologne4711
Kreislaufzusammenbruch. I had many of my colleagues as a nurse make this mistake when looking after english speaking patients, telling them they were having'circulatory problems ' when just dizzy post op.They were always fascinated by the fact that we don't even have a literal translation for 'Kreislaufprobleme' or' Kreislauf' which is the root of many maladies in Föhn obsessed Bavaria.

According to my MIL her doctor used to tell her to “make yourself free” in Germany when he wanted her to take her clothes off to examine her

My favourite is pferdeapfel - literally horse apples - for horse dung!

Blimey @DGRossetti who pissed on your chips??

The 'spunk' comments reminded me of when the Coca Cola company tried to launch 'Dasani' bottled water in the UK (water with added minerals, supposed to help fitness). The press release linked to the American website which had a picture of the water with a huge slogan 'Bottled Spunk!' To have 'spunk' in US English means to have spirit and energy - unfortunately they hadn't checked its usual meaning in British English!

I also think that when we think of German being an ugly language it is usually on the basis of English speakers trying to speak it.

I think it may be the way it looks written down, long words and capitalisation.
Sung German otoh - I remember my DM extolling its beauty as she played LPs of eg Bach's St Matthews Passion.

Oh and also Blutreinigungstee.

Herbal infusion for blood cleaning.

A staple in Omi's cabinet.

Blimey @DGRossetti who pissed on your chips?? confused

I did, because I didn't know what Beaches was.

Some Germans and other north Europeans have a habit of adopting and casually throwing around popular English obscenities without realising what they are saying, especially the F-word. Even Mrs Merkel shocked the G20 Conference when she spoke of the Financial Crash of 08 as ein shitstorm.

I can't ever see how to vote on here.
But yes I think so.

mockers we were on holiday last summer in Bavaria and a very nice man who was talking to my dc in English (dc 10 and 14) was telling them about a local fishing lake. He said that unfortunately due to lots of inbreeding the fish were “ fucking retarded”. There was a bit of a stunned silence from us and his companion, who had spent a lot of time in America so had a better grasp of the language, had to explain while killing her self laughing that it wasn’t a thing to say in front of children.

However in Spain throwing the word cono (~ over the n) around is perfectly acceptable in most quarters.

Kreislaufzusammenbruch is actually more serious than feeling dizzy after getting up.

@Igneococcus
The Becher / Tasse conundrum was not solved last night. It mgiht be regional. I am from the Ruhr. I always loved semantics.

And there are no ugly languges. Languages seem to be considered ugly, when you don't like the speakers / culture / country very much.

They onec published a child safeguarding leaflet translated from the American english and did not check for cultural background:
"Don't let anybody touch you in places that are usually covered by you bathing shorts (I think was the word)"

Yes, but the sewar words taken over do not usually carry the same meaning.
There is a fascinating sub field of linguistics concernded with swearwords and their semantic background.

Calling somebody "Sie Arschloch" is more serious than "Du Arschloch".

What did Rossetti say? I had a quick scroll back over the last few pages and didn’t find anything too bad.

There was the computer firm Wang. In America the slogan Wang Cares was fine. In the UK, not so!

Coger in Spain is fine - it's just to take. In Latin America, it's not. You might be able to guess what it means.

Calling somebody "Sie Arschloch" is more serious than "Du Arschloch".

Now - that is useful to know - though generally I just mutter "Arschloch" without either pronoun.

Why is a raccoon a washbear? Do they wash their faces a lot?

They wash their food, boatyard

And Toyota were going to call their Rav4 the 1Car.

And it works both ways, never more so than that height of genteel suburban affectation, the cul-de-sac.

French is widely (bewilderingly) regarded by many non-Francophones as a 'sugar and spice and all things nice' language. In African-American circles, it is now a habit to stick a La- prefix on the front of given names for the sophisticated qudos this brings, notably the popular LaShawn.