I’ve made two videos now about English words that are used differently in German than their
actual English meaning, and so today I’m going to be looking at some German words whose use
in English has kind of strayed from the actual German meaning.
Hey everyone! I’m Dana and you’re watching Wanted Adventure Living Abroad.
In German "Rucksack" is just the word for backpack. But in English we use the word rucksack
to mean a kind of heavy-duty backpack, like one you would go hiking with or backpacking
around Europe. This, for example, is a backpack, and this could be considered a rucksack.
We often write and say this word without the umlaut in English. So that it’s said uber,
and we use it to mean, like, the super something of that category. So like, only the uber rich
can afford to stay at that hotel.
In German this is a "Stein" -- a stone! But in English that's what we call this: a stein.
And I guess we got it from the German word "Steinkrug," but we just call German beer
mugs steins. Isn't that what you call this? You call this a stein, right?
Nope. In German, a "stein" is called a Bierkrug, a Steinkrug, a Humpen, in Bavaria a Maß or
a Maßkrug, and other names. But not a stein.
In the U.S. Kindergarten is a single year of school that kids go to when they’re about
5 years old. This year of school is part of the public school system and often takes place
at the actual elementary school that kids will then go to for the first grade. So it’s
kind of like a practice year of going to school before you actually go to “real” school.
So imagine my surprise when I found out that in German the word "Kindergarten" actually
means something totally different! In Germany I believe that kids can go to Kindergarten
from 3 up to 6 years old.
So with this word, a bratwurst does mean the same thing in English and German, of course
different pronunciation and perhaps a little bit different seasonings. But the big thing
here is that in the U.S. it's often abbreviated as "brat." Let’s have a cook out and
eat some brats. Whereas in German it’s often the first half of the word that gets dropped
and it’s abbreviated just to "Wurst."
Germans watching this might not even recognize this word from the spelling, but go ahead,
say it out loud...Kris Kringle, Kris Kingle, Kris Kringle, Kris Kringle, Kris Kringle...aaahhh!
Do you hear it? Do you hear it? Kris Kringle, Kris Kringle, Christkindl! Nowadays in the
U.S. this is another name for Santa Claus, and I always thought it was a first name,
last name sort of thing. Like, Santa Claus: aka, first name Kris, last name Kringle.
So my question for you is: English speakers, does it surprise you to learn this about these
words? And German speakers, did you know that we were using your German words in these different
ways? And what other examples have you seen of this phenomenon? Please let me know in
the comments below.
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Until next time auf Wiedersehen!
In German, this is a "Stein" -- a stone. But in er...
Aaaah!
Wurst. Wurst. Wurst.