Endangered German words
Every language gains new words while others fall into disuse - a selection from the deutschland.de editorial team.
Amtsschimmel: (lit: bureaucracy horse) this term stands for excessive bureaucracy. The Amtsschimmel whinnies whenever things are done over-correctly and slowly.
Backfisch: (lit: fried fish) this term for a teenage girl is now only heard on rare occasions in the vocabulary of great-grandparents. The word apparently originated from angling and was used to describe a very young fish.
Dalli: (Hurry up! Quick sharp!) parents can often be heard using this word to hurry their children along (“Jetzt aber dalli”). The word is rooted in the Kashubian dali (further, go) and in the Polish dalej.
Pappenheimer: people say “Ich kenne meine Pappenheimer” when they reckon they know the weaknesses of certain individuals. The quote dates back to Friedrich Schiller’s drama Wallenstein’s Death in praise of the soldiers of Count von Pappenheim. Nowadays it is used ironically.
Zeche: (lit: colliery, mine) the expression “Die Zeche bitte!” can still occasionally be heard from someone sitting in a pub who wants to pay the bill. The pub might be in the Ruhr area, but not necessarily. In the Ruhr the word Zeche means colliery or mine. There’s trouble brewing if someone “die Zeche prellt”: he cheats the colliery by not paying the bill.
German Language Day on 13 September 2014
