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?

Many of the constructs anglophones find amusing in German are only funny because we have adopted and modified Germanic words. It's part of a shared history really. To take the OP, 'Brustwarzen' wouldn't be funny if English didn't have both 'breast' and 'wart', and if the latter didn't now just mean 'wart' in English.

@ErrolTheDragon
Very true.

I think this is a German (and other languages) appreciation thread! If you happen to speak it - and not many Brits do - the chance to have a love-in is a rare thing.

This thread is a much-needed escape for me. In no way is it bashing our German cousins.

Lovely cheerful thread.

In Danish a defibrillator is a hjertestarter.

We picked up a couple of good phrases from German friends. I can't remember the German but their English translations were 'football legs' (muscular lower limbs) and 'beer muscle' (a paunch).

They also used 'elephant racing' for a massive lorry doing 60mph overtaking another one doing 59.999mph on the motorway.

As for kummerspec - I'm gaining that by the day.

When my Danish husband first moved to the UK he said that making yourself understood was easy, avoiding sounding like a 5 year old more difficult. He has a great accent so nobody guesses he's not a native speaker. It's a mixed blessing though, as some people then assume you are a bit simple if you say big letters instead of capital letters for example.

This is one of the most fascinating threads I've ever read on here - I vote for it to go into Classics.

The French for bra is “soutien-gorge”, literally throat-support. When I lived there about twenty years ago they would refer to tennis players as “un tennisman” and the Queen Mother as “Queen Mummy”

I love the english word 'cringe' comes close to the german 'fremdschämen' = to be ashamed for someone else

to cringe is just soooo descriptive

Language is a living, evolving thing which can be beautiful and funny. Enjoying the humour of how our languages intersect and translate with each other is celebration, not derision.

Yes! This thread is great.

'Turtle dove', sounds bonkers in English. But...'Turteltaube' is turtle dove in German ('turteln' = to bill and coo). They share a root I think.

I've just found out on another thread that typical Danish Pastries are snegel, someone has just posted a recipe for 'danish bread snails'.

https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/coronafreee_zone/3859766-Welcome-to-the-no-corona-zona

Re, "German-Bashing"

Presumably Deutschen schlagen, (?) akin to 'slagging off' in English.

Danish pastries in general are wienerbrød-Viennese bread

Amazon just delivered "Indo-European cognate's dictionary" it is NOT a scientific book. The writer is not a linguist. But I will have hours of fun with it.

From an English speaking perspective "Lingo - a language spotters guide to Europe" is great fun, too. The original is Dutch.

@CeciledeVolanges

The French for bra is “soutien-gorge”, literally throat-support

Clearly French women are more optimistic about the height of their breasts than other nationalities..

I've just found out on another thread that typical Danish Pastries are snegel, someone has just posted a recipe for 'danish bread snails'.

How to annoy a Swede: Any reference to KANELBULLAR being Danish!

"niedermachen" would be the word for bashing.

When my Danish husband first moved to the UK he said that making yourself understood was easy, avoiding sounding like a 5 year old more difficult.

I guess he would tend to opt for words from our Nordic/Germanic sources which tend to be 'commoner' (in a non- pejorative literal sense) than those from French/Latin sources. It's noted in eg words for livestock vs meat - the peasant tended the swine, the feudal lord ate the porc.

I had a French colleague who could communicate rapidly and fluently in English, if he was at a loss for an English word he'd just use the French and wait a moment while I found something with the same root, comprehended his meaning and supplied the common English word.

Clearly French women are more optimistic about the height of their breasts than other nationalities..

LOL

Prokupatuscrakedatus ooh great tips, thanks!

How about a German translation for hoik? as in judgy pants or bosom?
It love it, is so descriptive, but I do not know how to translate for possible use?

When my Danish husband first moved to the UK he said that making yourself understood was easy, avoiding sounding like a 5 year old more difficult.

I agree that basic english is easy to learn, the grammar and pronunciation are (relatively) simple. but the nuances are where you can 'ins fettnäpfchen treten' (to step into a container of grease)

French vocab in English is still thought very hoity-toity, (presumably haute-toit, upstairs where the Norman lords lived, waited on by their Saxon servants in the cellar.)

hoik = hochziehen oder, in norddeutschland, hochtrecken.

The similarities in the Germanic languages fascinate me. I grew up speaking both Dutch and English but also very close to an area where the local dialect had features associated with German. Listening to Swedish is a particular source of joy - you can hear words which sound like their English, Dutch and German counterparts.

hoik = hochziehen oder, in norddeutschland, hochtrecken

But those are so applicable to other uses, so neutral. I want a word that conveys the mental image of "overweigt corsetted moral outrage"