German is Weird - A blog about funny German words and language quirks

Wollmaus

March 19, 2023

Germans spend around two and a half hours a week cleaning their homes. That doesn’t quite live up to their reputation as cleanliness fanatics.

Mahlzeit

March 5, 2023

It’s an expression that I can hardly believe has survived into the present day because it sounds so utterly bizarre. Nevertheless, you still hear it from time to time, especially in larger companies.

Konterbier ("counter beer”): A beer that Germans are having for breakfast after a party night with the intent to ease their hangover

Germany is known as the land of great scientists. It is also known as the land of wild and rampant alcohol consumption. So unsurprisingly, some smart Germans have come up with great life hacks to keep your hangover in check.

Sitzfleisch

February 17, 2023

Just about everyone has made the experience that it’s not always easy to get a visitor to clear the place out. Especially when there’s still beer in the fridge.

Klammeraffe

February 9, 2023

In the late 90s, the @ sign was virtually emblematic of the Internet boom. Today, we use it primarily to tag someone in a WhatsApp chat.

Bergfest

January 31, 2023

For the Oktoberfest, Germans have to wait a whole year. So it helps a lot that there is a festivity that they can celebrate every week, all without being forced to wear Dirndl and Lederhosen.

Tote Oma

January 12, 2023

This one is a real GDR classic. It dates back to socialist times when many products were scarce and housewives had to try to put something tasty on the table for their family with the means at hand.

verschlimmbessern

January 1, 2023

If you haven’t had an idea of what “verschlimmbessern” means—just think about the introduction of the Video Assistant Referee in soccer that wiped out a lot of the emotions without really making the game any more fair after all.

Hundewetter

December 19, 2022

The shepherd dog is emblematic of Germany in a way that otherwise only socks and sandals are. Without a doubt, Germans love their canine friends. So it comes as a great surprise that this love is not at all reflected in their language.

Nacktschnecke

November 23, 2022

Have you ever heard the cliché of Germans being somewhat uptight? Well, that’s not true across the board. Especially, when it comes to nudity, Germans are stunningly open-minded.

Reliefpfeiler

November 8, 2022

German palindromes range from given names (Anna, Otto) to animals (Reittier – “mount”, Uhu – “eagle owl”) to objects (Lagerregal – “Storage rack”, Rotor – “Rotor”) and everything in between.

Stuhlgang

October 28, 2022

There is that bar in Berlin called Das Klo (“the loo”). Given the name, it’s not hard to imagine what it is: a toilet-themed drinking location where you sit on an actual water closet while enjoying your pilsner.

Karteileiche

October 17, 2022

I still get mail once a year from the dental clinic I last visited about 10 years ago. For this doctor’s office, I am a typical Karteileiche today.

Geheimratsecken

October 2, 2022

Nature is very unjust when it comes to hair loss. Some guys will still look like a Monchichi in their 60s. Others get close to baldness even before their Abitur.

Kummerspeck

September 7, 2022

I am sure we have all had our fair share of painful breakups. More often than not, the grief is so strong that it moves from the soul into the body and becomes apparent in the form of drastic weight changes.

Heimscheißer

September 1, 2022

For such a precise-sounding term, the word Heimscheißer is remarkably versatile. On the most basic level, it simply describes what it says: a person who prefers to do their number 2’s at home.