An exchange in the bathroom after discovering a strange mouldy substance.
Me: Hey, look at this! What do you think this is?
He squats down for an extra good look. Forehead scrunched, nostrils flared, eyes staring over the top of tortoise shell frames. And then the declaration. 'SCHMUTZ!' It was uttered with such disgust, that I felt I had somehow smuggled in and started breeding this Schmutz in our bathroom. That was the end of that conversation. It was a one word reply that got me wondering, why life is so simple for men. Why they don't have to consider changing their names after marriage, why they have a standard suit to wear to every occasion and why, above all, they know the answer to all questions. Even when they don't really know the answer. I could tell that whatever it was, wasn't clean, but what it was, how it got there - those were the answers I was looking for. This in turn probably made him wonder, why women are so complicated and need to discuss everything to the point of exhaustion, when a sponge and some spray seems a simple enough solution. This, believe it or not, brings me to my German class, where our teacher asked us today, to write down our favourite German word and the reason this word has made it to No.1 in our ever growing vocabulary. There were a few contenders for my favourite word. 'Schadenfreude' was one of them. A word brought to my attention by a friend. A word also used in English and which translates to malicious joy or revelling in someone else's misfortune. It is used, I guess because we don't have a word that is as fitting. The meaning is nasty but she liked, as do I, that there is one official word for that in German, whereas in English, we have to string a couple of words together to express this concept. The other German expression I like, is 'ab und zu' which means 'from time to time.' It isn't one word, but when you say it fast it sounds like aponzu and that reminds me of ponzu. A very delicious Japanese sauce. But after having a good think about it, the aforementioned bathroom incident came to mind and the declaration of 'Schmutz' made me laugh out loud. It has made it to my top spot because the way it sounds is just so perfect for what it wants to describe. If you look up LEO you can hear the pronunciation and see that the following words are given as possible meanings for the word Schmutz: dirt, dirtiness, dung, feculence, filth, filthiness, foulness, grime, grunge, mud, ordure, pollutant, slush, smut, soil, squalidness and squalor. How appropriate. A word that covers all manner of yuck.
And you? Any favourite words and reasons why?
I looked up "Schmutz" on Leo: "Unadulterated filth"- I love it. As a child growing up my father taught me several Yiddish words with glee, and of course it is those ones that stick. I can't help but wonder if there is a linguistic relation to 'Schmuck', which in German is apparently an embellishment or adornment, but in Yiddish is slang for an idiot. There are also some phallic references depending on the supposed source of the word. Sorry to sully this post so, but it already seemed tainted, with schmutz :)
ReplyDeleteBtw, an un-named friend an I used to love saying 'Bustenhalter' in thick accents when we were at an incredibly immature age. In fact, the word still makes me smile.
Hi Tina,
ReplyDeleteYes, the word Schmuck here means jewellery and can be used for other types of decoration as well. It is also pronounced differently, the 'u' is like the 'u' in bull as opposed to nut. Büstenhalter is hilarious, isn't it? There is often no mystery with German words, they say what they mean and this one is no exception. Here, people shorten it to BH. Pronounced BeHa the 'be' like in bed rather than bee. Another funny one is Kunst, sounds rude but means art.
Lambourine, not actually a word but the meaning of the feeling you have when you have your pjs on, feeling cozy, ready for bed and are relaxing. Ahhhh. Comes from the book, The Meaning of Liff. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Meaning_of_Liff
ReplyDeleteChristelle introduced this word to me many years ago and I still use it till this day, both Adrian and Darren know what it means when I use it.
Thanks for letting me know about this book. What a great idea, a book of words should exist. Hilarious, I have to invest in a copy. Lambourine fits the feeling you described perfectly, much better than what I have been using for all these years, snug.
ReplyDeleteThere used to be a bar on Oxford Street, Sydney which had a theme night called 'Schmutzig'. Do you prefer the noun Schmutz to the adjective Schmutzig? I love the word Kuddelmuddel, which Anastasia nicknamed me when she randomly selected a word from a German dictionary. It translates to mess. When I was learning German and the fav word thing came up in class I said 'Fussbodenheissung' - it's so long and cool and such a warm invention, but i guess not good for the environment. I like the word 'Kiez' to describe a suburb or place you like hangin out. I could go on and on. Most Germans will probably say 'Gemuetlich' as they don't accept cozy as a translation.
ReplyDeleteGimme the noun or the adjective any day. But you are right, the ig does add an extra something. I didn't know that about Gemuetlich and cozy, why doesn't cozy cut the mustard? I like Kuddelmuddel, it is much friendlier then calling someone a 'mess'. Here's a long one for you that came up in our class, das Strassenverkehrsordnungwidrigkeitsverfahren. Beat that. I think it translates to driving infringement penalty but I can't be sure. I was blinking too hard at the board after she wrote it down to pay attention to her explanation.
ReplyDelete