Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunlite
Ok, I will try my hands on this one.
Spargeltarzan: a rather lanky man/boy. Often that person tries to show off his non existing muscles.
Saufkumpan: a person one is used to get utterly drunk with. This can be a friend but don't has to be (at least in the German definition of friend).
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ha !! "Spargeltarzan" !!! hilarious !! i think i am going to start using that in french !!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sunlite
You ( the English speaking people) have annexed some other words that had no translation in English like Schadenfreude, Zeitgeist or schleppen.
The last has by the way created an English word that is not translatable into German: shlepp (sp?) as a noun.
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German language is really brilliant for creating perfectly descriptive compound words (like your examples). this is not easy to do in french because we don't really use several words together in this way, we would have to add "de" or "à la" in the middle, and it's not nearly as effective. "Schadenfreude", same as in english, there is no way to make one word in french to express that. i wish i knew more german because of this.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IceHand
I can't think of any untranslatable words at the moment, so ... some words that are funny when you translate them literally:
Jammerlappen (sl.): literally: whiny rag, means: sissy.
Staubsauger: literally: dust sucker, means: vacuum cleaner.
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i saw a book called "sky my husband", a friend of mine got it when she was studying english, it's a lot of french expressions translated literally into english. they become completely nonsensical. like the title, "ciel !" is used (well, not so much today anymore) as an exclamation, like "heavens !" but it literally means "sky". or "to be round like the handle of a shovel" (être rond comme une queue de pelle), it means to be really drunk...