Editor's Corner

Good morning, friends!

As most of you know, when studying English, I also love to see what other languages have to offer. Today I’m going to look at a few German words that English speakers think we could use, such as Backpfeifengesicht, “a face that is badly in need of a fist.” These words are sometimes called untranslatables:

“…single words whose definitions are wonderfully specific or complex enough that, when translated into another language, they require numerous words to express the same idea.”

From Dictionary.com, here are a few to start with. Since I don’t speak anything outside of Hogan’s Heroes German, I’m going to let the experts define how to say these terms and what they mean.

blaumachen

If you’re suffering from a case of the Mondays, you might be tempted to blaumachen [ blou-makh-in ]. Blaumachen means “to skip work” or “to play hooky” for no good reason. Blau translates to “blue” and machen means “to make,” so taken together, blaumachen is “to make blue.” What does shirking your responsibilities have to do with making something blue?

Well, the idea of blaumachen comes from “making a Blue Monday.” Traditionally in German culture, a Blue Monday (blauer Montag) was a day people chose not to work, either due to observing a celebration (or after celebrating too much). The blue is thought to originate as a reference to clothing worn on Sundays and holidays. The blue is sometimes connected to the use of the color around the period of Lent in the Lutheran church.

Luftschlösser bauen

We all have hopes and dreams, but if your dreams are extravagant, you might be accused of Luftschlösser bauen [ looft-shles-uh bou-in ], or “building castles in the air.” The German verb bauen means to “build.” Das Luftschloss (die Luftschlösser in the plural) is a “daydream” or “pipe dream,” but it literally means “air castle” (Luft means “sky,” and Schloss means “castle”).

The idea of Luftschlösser bauen runs parallel to the old French expression faire des châteaux en Espagne, “to make castles in Spain” (i.e., a difficult task in a country you don’t rule), first recorded in the 13th century. Whatever the construction and whatever the language, the expression building castles in the air is dismissive of fanciful plans that will never pan out.

quatschen

Don’t talk nonsense—or, as they may say in German, nicht quatschen. Quatschen [ kvach-in ] is a German word that translates as “to talk nonsense, babble, gossip, chatter” and is said to be a favorite of German schoolteachers trying to get their students to zip it.

The etymology of quatschen is unclear. It’s possible that it comes from the sound of stepping into mud or something else squishy. It’s also suggested that the word comes from the Low German word quat, which means “bad, evil.”

The related Quatsch! can be issued as an interjection to express disbelief or dismissal akin to the English baloney or nonsense.

A few more next time!

Kara Church | Technical Editor, Advisory | Technical Publications

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