As a non-menstruating person, I’m unsure if I’m qualified to talk about this sensitive topic. But there’s one thing I know for a fact: as complicated as “mother nature’s gift” may be, as funny it is from a linguistic perspective. Especially when you are bleeding in German.
Erdbeerwoche is an undeniably awesome euphemism for that time of the month. But the fun doesn’t end there. A spontaneous survey among the female part of my social circle brought up a couple of even more hilarious expressions. There we have, for example, auf der roten Welle surfen (“to surf the red wave”), die Maler im Keller haben (“to have the painters in the basement”) or das Baumwollkamel reiten (“riding the cotton camel”).
I particularly like the term monatliche Betriebsstörung (“monthly service malfunction”) for its low-key yet descriptive nature. Interestingly, there is also a German version of “Aunt Flo’s visit” only that there is another first name for that unloved relative when you have Besuch von Tante Rosi.
