Sesselfurzer

Sesselfurzer ("armchair farter“): Someone who has a well-paid office job and hardly ever moves during work

Literally: “armchair farter” / meaning: someone who performs a sedentary job

About 14,8 million Germans work in offices. That’s more than a third of all Germans who have a job. So there are many millions of Germans for whom the most exhausting part of the day is the 10-meter walk between their front door and their carport.

Add to that the hearty food in company cafeterias—and you can well imagine why many Germans have quite a pronounced backside in their 30s already. It is a tough reality that a typical office job in Germany—as in most parts of the world—pays much better than physical labor. This may be one of the reasons why the term Sesselfurzer is often used mockingly by people who work in more physically demanding (and often more socially important, but lower-paid) jobs. For example, nurses, craftsmen, policemen, pole dancers, and the like.

And yes: It’s common knowledge that sedentary occupation promotes flatulence. In this respect, the term actually carries a double truth.

References:
https://www.iwkoeln.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Studien/IW-Trends/PDF/2020/IW-Trends_2020-03-04_Hammermann-Voigtländer.pdf

 

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