7 glacial German sayings to make we a winter wordsmith

November 29, 2016

1. Saukalt

Photo: DPA

Now that it’s dropping into a sub-zero temperatures, kalt (cold) is usually not going to penetrate it. Instead, a word we need is saukalt. Literally translating as “pig-cold” it means it’s flipping cold, and it’s a ideal outline for that subsequent step adult as we conduct into a solidified months.

2. Naschkatze

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As you’re tempted behind into those Christmas markets time after time, this word might also come in handy. A Naschkatze (nibble-cat) is a tenure for someone with a honeyed tooth, and who can censure we when there’s such a tasty preference of cakes, cookies and candy to excavate into this winter?

3. Gemütlichkeit

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The colder it is outside, a warmer it feels inside, and that’s because we’re beholden for a German word Gemütlichkeit (its closest interpretation is “cosiness”). As we raise into a comfortable wood-panelled bar and hang you’re hands around a bubbling mop of Glühwein, we usually need to exclaim: “So gemütlich!” No one does winter regard improved than a Germans, so make a many of a Gemütlichkeit.

4. Schneematsch

Photo: DPA

Many of we are substantially anticipating for some sleet this winter. But a categorical downside of a white things is when it starts to melt. Yes, when it turns to slush, sleet unexpected loses a magic. The German tenure Schneematsch (snow mud) describes that slurry of white and brownish-red that starts to raise adult on travel corners and trickle by your shoes.

5. Die Kuh vom Eis holen

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If someone tells we “du hast die Kuh vom Eis geholt” (You’ve got a cow off a ice), they’re substantially not being verbatim (unless you’re a dairy rancher subsequent to a solidified lake). Instead, this rather wintry jargon unequivocally means that you’ve saved a day. If someone manages to lift something out a bag as we shift on a corner of disaster, that’s a approach to appreciate them.

6. Aufs Glatteis führen

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Another winter-inspired idiom, aufs Glatteis führen means to “lead [someone] onto a black ice”. The English homogeneous is to “lead someone adult a garden path”, or to lead them astray. So subsequent time we consider you’ve clinched a good understanding on that shawl during a Christmas market, and afterwards we see it for half a cost in a emporium window on a approach home, you’ll know that a convincing businessman has led we “aufs Glatteis”.

7. Schnee von gestern

Photo: DPA

Das ist jetzt Schnee von gestern (literally “that’s yesterday’s sleet now”) is best translated as “that’s H2O underneath a overpass now”. It’s a good word to move out this Christmas, when it seems that an aged family evidence is about to flog off again. Just tell them quietly that “it’s yesterday’s snow”.

By Alexander Johnstone

Article source: http://www.thelocal.de/20161129/seven-german-words-and-expressions-for-this-winter