Weird German words / phrases Flashcards
Ohrwurm
(Ear worm)
Having a song stuck in your head
Fernweh
(Distance pain)
The feeling of wanting to be somewhere else. It’s like a reverse homesickness (Heimweh in German), a longing for a place that isn’t where you are right now.
Kummerspeck
(Grief bacon)
The excess weight put on by emotional overeating.
Innerer Schweinehund
(Inner pig dog)
Laziness
Fremdschämen
(Exterior shame)
The feeling of shame when seeing someone else in an uncomfortable or embarrassing situation.
Torschlusspanik
(Closing-gate panic)
The feeling of urgency to accomplish something before “it’s all too late.”
Treppenwitz
(Staircase joke)
The joke that comes to your mind after you needed it
Lebensmüde
(Life tired)
This word literally means being tired of life. Nowadays lebensmüde is what you call your friends when they are attempting something especially stupid and possibly life threatening
Weltschmerz
(World pain)
The world fails to live up to what we wish it was.
Weichei
(Soft egg)
Means someone who is weak and cowardly. The same is also conveyed by calling someone Würstchen, the diminutive of sausage.
Backpfeifengesicht
(Slap face)
Someone who you feel needs a slap in the face.
Erklärungsnot
(Explanation poverty)
It’s what you find yourself in when put on the spot without a sufficient explanation or excuse for something you have done or failed to do.
Sitzfleisch
(Sit or seat meat)
it describes a character trait. Those who possess a lot of seat meat are able to sit through and weather something incredibly hard or boring.
Purzelbaum
(Tumble tree)
It describes a somersault on the ground, a favorite way of children to get their clothes dirty.
Dreikäsehoch
(Three cheeses high)
It describes is a person who is vertically challenged, implying they’re only as tall as three wheels of cheese.
Zungenbrecher
(Tongue breaker)
Tongue twister, a phrase that’s very hard to pronounce even for native speakers.
Schattenparker
(Shadow parker)
This word is part of a series of insults for men which accuse them of unmanly behavior. In this case, of parking their car in the shadow to avoid heating up the interior. These kinds of derogatory terms were something of a meme some years back and whole lists of them exist on the internet. Alternatives include Warmduscher (someone who showers with warm water), Sitzpinkler (a man who urinates while sitting down), or Turnbeutelvergesser (someone who used to forget their gym bag in cardio class).
Kuddelmuddel
Kuddelmuddel describes an unstructured mess, chaos, or hodgepodge. Alternatives which are equally awesome include Tohuwabohu, Wirrwarr, Mischmasch, and Kladderadatsch.
