Usually I write about all the fun caused by the German language. But one thing that is even harder to remember than all these crazy German vocabulary (words like Bannmeile or Nacktscanner!) are passwords.

Don’t you have the same problem? Sitting in front of your computer, wanting to log into a website and you can’t figure out your password? OK, it’s easy for websites that you use on a daily basis, but what about ebay? I don’t buy and sell things every day, and I always forget my password.

I’ve tried everything: Writing it down (can’t find the piece of paper anymore), memorizing it, making up a story around the password (forgot the story)… Maybe I should think about a tattoo.

Anyway, maybe it’s just me who has a limited capacity of remembering passwords (because my brain is full of German vocabulary). So here’s the solution: Check out the website allyve.com. It’s like a Vokabelkasten for your passwords. Using allyve as a starting page, you have an overview of all your favorite websites in one shot, you don’t have to log in or log out all the time, and you can use your entire brain capacity to remember German vocabulary instead of passwords. Cool stuff, I would say!

I knew it was too good to be true! Such a wonderful word that sounds very formal must have had a special history. And as a matter of fact, it has. The moment I saw it today, it became my personal favorite of a day (I’ve heard it many times before, but sometimes it’s only when you see it written that a word puts a spell on you) and I automatically put into a drawer with all those formal, stuck-up, long, complicated and sophisticated words. And then I googled it. What a surprise it was to discover that in fact originally it is a humorous neologism coined by German students. It has been used a lot, however, therefore making many people believe it was a ‘real word’. Most dictionaries still mark it as colloquial but the fact that such a creation made it to the respectful dictionaries is already impressive. How I love to get to like one word and then discover a whole story behind it! Long live German!

Would any of you enter a Polyglot Scrabble competition? Do you consider yourself a Polyglot?

I share my favourite five things about Deutschland with you, the lucky viewer. What are yours?

Verbs, as the ‘doing words’ of any language, are always the more fun than boring old nouns. Englischers ‘verb’ (or, as I like to say, ‘verbify’) nouns all the time, especially in slang. For example: if the police use a taser gun on someone, that person was ‘tasered’ (or ‘tased’ – as in “Don’t tase me, bro.”). We ‘microwave’ food and ‘vacuum’ the house. If you send someone a text message (SMS) you ‘text’ them or ‘message’ them.

Deutschies do it too! My German friends ‘simsen’ from their Handys all the time.

But it gets really interesting when you employ Deutschlisch. I have found myself verbifying German nouns in English sentences. How sophisticated (if I do say so myself).

You may remember the abbreviated ‘Entschuldigung’ – ‘Schuldi!’. Well, now it’s new and improved – it’s a verb! ‘To schuldi’ means to excuse oneself (usually in a crowd). So if you need to get to the front of a crowded concert, you might need to schuldi your way past the other concert goers!

And when I was schlumping around – I was verbifying as well. And I didn’t even know it! Just call me Shakespeare.

BUT! There is a warning which must be issued to users of Deutschlisch: it can make your English bad! When someone calls me, and I’m at a friend’s house, I report that “I’m by Herr Versteh-a-lot”. ‘Bei’ does not equal ‘by’! Speaking of my good friend, Herr V, he advised me whilst cooking: “When you want to make the curry hot, add chili.” Okay: -

1. DON’T tell Miss Verständnis how to cook. She is the Guru;

2. What you mean, dear Herr V, is “if you want to make the curry hot.” This is the problem with saying wenn too much.

This is an Englischer Service Announcement, brought to you free of charge by the always caring and concerned Miss Verständnis.