Miss-Verständnis | Deutschlisch

Urlaubsreif

By Miss-A. ⋅ July 30, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

I love German word formation creativity! Urlaubsreif is another example from my log list of words that are somehow German-only i.e. usually cannot be translated into other languages with just one word. Urlaubsreif means in desperate need of a holiday and because I consider myself a person in such a state all the linguistic topics [...]

Realisieren oder bemerken?

By Miss-A. ⋅ July 16, 2010 ⋅ One comment

My flatmate has asked me recently if I knew that the Germans tend to use the verb realisieren in a wrong way as he was told (off) by a friend who’s (allegedly) into language matters. He claimed that in German it only has the meaning of verwirklichen and the Germans also use it to convey [...]

Volcanic ash everywhere!

By Miss-A. ⋅ April 19, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

If I was to choose a word I’ve heard most in the recent day it would definitely be volcanic ash…
I’m just wondering if it should be the word of the day, week (the volcano cloud crisis is in its 5th day already), or month??
Glad that I haven’t planned any air travel for the nearest past [...]

When did Krieg der Sterne become Star Wars?

By Miss-A. ⋅ March 31, 2010 ⋅ 2 comments

I’ve had this discussion a hundred times before but yesterday we were watching TV with my flatmate and we were getting annoyed by the TV commercials for films. Well, actually not the commercials themselves but the titles of the films or even more precisely their translations into German. Much has been said and written about [...]

English, German, EuroEnglish??

By Miss-A. ⋅ March 23, 2010 ⋅ Post a comment

Recently I’ve come across a funny article on a 5 year phase-in plan to simplify the English spelling in order to create the official language of the EU called “EuroEnglish”. What comes out of this ‘project’ in the end strongly reminds me of the speech delivered by European Commissioner for Energy Günther Oettinger from Germany.
The [...]

Those stupid (germanized) anglicisms!

By Miss-A. ⋅ February 8, 2010 ⋅ 3 comments

I was watching a late night show on German TV the other night and the host was interviewing a famous German actor about his new projects. It was then that he used a verb greenlighten, or to be even more precise a beautiful German past tense form of the verb: gegreenlightet. I am a huge [...]

Unterwegs!

By Miss-Verständnis ⋅ May 20, 2008 ⋅ 5 comments

You’ll have to bear with me here, as I am about to undergo the 30+ hours’ travel that it takes to get to New Zealand. You see, I am paying a quick visit to family and friends on those little islands down there, and it just so happens that it is pretty much the [...]

Bin sitt

By Miss-Verständnis ⋅ April 8, 2008 ⋅ 7 comments

Those of you who speak or are learning German may be familiar with the word satt as in ‘Ich bin satt’, meaning “I’m full as a bull/stuffed/about to pop”.
A word you may not be familiar with is sitt, which is satt’s liquid equivalent, meaning one’s thirst has been quenched. Makes sense to me! Hungrig – [...]

Wir bitten um Ihr (Miss)Verständnis

By Miss-Verständnis ⋅ April 5, 2008 ⋅ 8 comments

The avid readers of this blog (or should I say, ‘reader’ singular – Hi Mum!) might notice the entries a little sparse at the moment. This is because Miss V is in the land of Urlaub (where all Germans go on holiday), living it up and talking about herself in the third person in France. [...]