![]() ![]() Cool, isn’t it? The German, I mean, not the rabies. It’s always necessary to give them a hint: Tollwut is an animal disease and the “great anger” is what’s displayed in the final stages. When my German students try to guess this one, most make fairly good guesses: temper tantrum, road rage, destructive violence, an outburst. Now, what would a “cool cabinet“ be? Of course! The perfect description of a “refrigerator.”ĭie Tollwut: toll = great die Wut = anger, rage Kühlschrank: kühl = cool der Schrank = cabinet Schreibtisch: schreiben = to write/writing der Tisch = table.Ī long word for “desk,“ isn’t it? This is fun. So, back to the long, descriptive German words: (Imagine that.)īut, these don’t have any good length to them. And they’ve taken from the French, too. ![]() Of cors, zey are pronounst ekzectly like zee Chermans vood sey zem. Sometimes, believe it or not, Germans will get a little lazy ( gasp!) by taking a foreign word and adopting it into their own language, like these English words: If you guessed “dormitory,“ you’re right! Studentenheim: der Student = student das Heim = home (don’t worry about the extra letters - they just add to the length!). So, what do you think a “flying thing“ would be? Duh. A long time ago, rather than coming up with new words, the smart Germans just got words they already had and shoved them together to create words that any “Dummkopf” could figure out.įlugzeug: der Flug = flight/flying das Zeug = thing. The German language is, thus, very descriptive. The meanings of the individual words have a direct bearing on what the compound noun means. Many words in the German language are formed by combining two or more words, known in English as compound nouns. German is definitely known for its ϋber-long words. ![]() Mark Twain once wrote, “Some German words are so long that they have a perspective.” He wasn’t far off the mark. ![]()
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