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T Kauderwelsch volume 188
The Queen’s English surely feels as uptight and serious n German Slang
a
m
as its standardized German counter-
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e
part ‘Hochdeutsch’. However, the G
l
man in the street does not always a
e
express himself in such a polished e r
h
way, and even less so when at home,
t
–
ausrasten down at the pub or among friends. g
n
Kratzbürste This little language guide introduces a
l
S
affengeil German Slang n
a
Kohldampf m
blechen many naughty and funny er
G
Lästermaul expressions Germans use when
tote Hose having a casual chat with colleagues
abmurksen at work, communicating with family
GGeerrmmaann
Knalltüte & friends, roaming pubs, bars and
8
Saftsack clubs, engaging in sexual relations, 8
1
Zaster spending time on the loo and more. .
l
Geblubber About 1000 common key words o
v
ISBN 978-3-89416-476-8 and colloquial expressions, h
c
⁄7,90 [D] ready to use & easy to find. ls
e
Accompanying audio material (CD) w the real German
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e
separately available. d
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a
ReiseKNOW-HOWVerlag ,Bielefeld K
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Kauderwelsch
volume 188
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Elfi H. M. Gilissen
German Slang — the real German
published by
REISEKNOW-HOW Verlag Peter Rump GmbH
Osnabrücker Str. 79, D-33649 Bielefeld
[email protected]
©REISEKNOW-HOW Verlag Peter Rump GmbH
2ndedition 2007
This book is copyright. No part may be reproduced
by any process without written permission.
Inquiries should be made to Peter Rump, Bielefeld.
All rights reserved.
Revision Elfi H.M. Gilissen
Layout Elfi H.M. Gilissen
Layout Conception Günter Pawlak, FaktorZwo! Bielefeld
Cover Peter Rump
Illustrations Andrew Tokmakoff (p. 1, 24, 28, 33, 53, 58, 63, 89, 94, 98,
105, 109, 118, 128, 130, 132, 136),
Rosa Gilissen (p. 39, 43, 46, 64, 72, 78, 123, 140)
Print & Binding Fuldaer Verlagsanstalt GmbH & Co. KG, Fulda
ISBN 978-3-89416-476-8
Printed in Germany
This book is available in every bookshop in Germany, Austria,
Switzerland and Benelux. If you can’t find it, please ask your
bookseller to order it from one of the distributors listed below:
Germany Prolit GmbH, Postfach 9, 35461 Fernwald (Annerod)
Switzerland AVA-buch 2000, Postfach 27, CH-8910 Affoltern
Austria Mohr Morawa Buchvertrieb GmbH,
Sulzengasse 2, A-1230 Wien
Belgium & Netherlands Willems Adventure, Postbus 403, NL-3140 AK Maassluis
directly hhttttpp::////wwwwww..rreeiissee--kknnooww--hhooww..ddee
This book is accompanied by audio material
containing all words and phrases in this book,
spoken by a German native speaker.
Are you interested in becoming a Kauderwelsch author?
Take a look at
www.reise-know-how.de/buecher/special/
schreiblust-inhalt.html
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Kauderwelsch
Elfi H. M. Gilissen
German Slang
– the real German
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RREEIISSEEKKNNOOWW--HHOOWW
oonn tthhee IInntteerrnneett
www.reise-know-how.de
Up-to-date [email protected]
information,
supplements after copy
date, book shop, useful
hints & special offers
for travellers
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This slang guide is different!
W
hy? You are familiar with a composition of standard lan-
foreign language – but when it guage, colloquial language and
comes to casual talking you slang.
won’t understand much. This colourful mixture
Especially when exploring the reflects the way of life, the atti-
”scene“, sharing their day-to- tude and the philosophy of the
day life with ordinary people, people using it.
chatting with somebody in the Since casual language is
street or having a beer together rather spoken than written,
in the pub, you’ll discover their there are hardly any rules on
language is miles away from how to spell these words, so
what you were taught at school. that you might find different
What you hear is colloquial spellings of the same word, if
speech, complemented by you find it written at all.
somewhat trendy slang expres- The authors will make you
sions, often not even familiar smile every now and again,
to the whole population, but making you familiar with the
only to certain age groups, mentality and way of life in the
members of a scene or fringe particular language area.
groups. Words, phrases and expres-
Most slang expressions have a sions, used every day, in the
poor life expectancy and won’t pub, at work, in the ”scene” and
ever make their way into an in the street, will be explained.
official dictionary. Slang is The annex provides you with
volatile. But it makes a dry about 1000 key words to look
”standard language” conversa- up in the book when you hear
tion more spicy. them somewhere – words you’ll
The genuine diversity of a probably never find in a dictio-
language consists of this lively nary.
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Contents
Contents
9 Preface
11 How To Use This Book
12 Say It In German
16 Very Peculiar: Denglisch!
20 German Dialects
Colloquialisms
& Idioms
26 Yes. Maybe. Sure.
– a collection of affirmatives
31 No! No Need! As If!
– all the replies meaning ‘no’
35 Great! Not Bad! Wow!
– when you just love it
40 Shit! No Good!
– if it’s a bunch of crap
47 Kiss My Arse! Who Cares!
– whenever you could’t care less
50 Really? Full On! Stunning!
– for amazing moments in life
55 Feel Great! Excited! Lucky Me!
– when you’re spirits fly high
59 Exhausted! Wrong! Screwed Up!
– if everything turns into chaos
65 Hilarious! Joke! Fooled!
– for all more and less amusing encounters
69 Nonsense! Huh? No Clue!
– when puzzled about all that bullshit
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Contents
73 Chat, Gossip & Whinge
– when you can’t keep still
80 Shut Up! Bigmouth! Spit It Out!
– if you want the talk or the silence to stop
83 Crazy! Driving Me Nuts!
– whenever someone drives you really mad
87 Furious! Enough!
– when it’s all a bit too much
95 Get Lost! Or Else ...
– a collection of last warnings
100 Pissing Your Pants?
– about the scared and the cowardly
102 Arseholes, Bitches, Idiots & Others
– all the fancy curses for both sexes
112 Cash & Work
– the hard-earned crust
120 Partytime! Get Plastered!
– for a good night out
131 Munch, Devour & Eat
– about having something solid to eat
133 Chatting Up & Knocked Back
– for the lovey-doveys
135 Friends & Sweethearts
– for good friends and lovers
138 About the Body & Intimacy
– let’s talk about sex
Annex
144 Sources & Further Reading
145 Index
160 The Author
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DK German Dialects
NORDSEE Flensburg OSTSEE
Kiel
Rostock
T T D E UHaTmSbuCrgH
A
P L Elbe 100 km
Amsterdam Bremen
NL BERLINISCH Poznan
Bielefeld Hannover Berlin POLEN
WESTFÄLISCH Magdeburg
Essen
Dortmund SÄCHSISCH
RheinKÖKLDSöClnHEUTSCHLANLeDipzig Dresden
B
HESSISCH
LUX. Frankfurt Prag
LËTZEBUERGESCH
FRÄNKISCH TSCHECHIEN
PFÄLZISCH
Nürnberg
SCHWÄBISCH
Strasbourg Stuttgart
F BADISCH B A I R I S C H Linz Wien
Konstanz München Donau WIENERISCH
Zürich
ÖSTERREICH
SCHWIIZERTÜÜTSCH Innsbruck H
SCHWEIZ Graz
Genf
SLO
ITALIEN
Milano HR
Venezia
Genova
ADRIATISCHES
MEER
8
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Preface
Preface
G
ermans have no humour, are always
overly formal and uncomfortably blunt.
These comments are just as stereotypical as
the statement that Germans continuously
eat sauerkraut, earning them the post-war
nickname ‘Krauts’.
Of course there’s a grain of truth in these Thank You!
observations. Germans do eat sauerkraut in ... to Stephanie-Suzanne
certain regions and seasons. And yes, they Durante from London
don’t have the dry British sense of humour, and Dr. George
nor do they generally go for the American Saunders from Sydney
slapstick approach, but they certainly do for their great efforts
have heaps of humour. It’s just exclusively helping to find the best
expressed in the German language and if English equivalents for
you’re not a great connoisseur of their lan- all the German idioms
guage, you’ll undoubtedly miss out on sub- in this book.
tleties like humour. Also thanks to my
The majority of Germans have rather poor partner Andrew
English skills compared to their neighbours, Tokmakoff as well as
especially Holland and Scandinavia. Even the above for doing
though they (almost) all learnt it at school, such an excellent job
their great love for precision which results in proof-reading it all.
their famous high quality cars and zillions
of other pieces of craftsmanship ‘made in
Germany’, does inhibit them when asked to
use foreign language and communication
skills. In the workplace and in social life,
they tend to come up with many excuses,
why their English is no good and they prefer
to speak German.
9
