German language... some interesting links

The popularity of German words in the English language

Last week I watched an English movie and... in the middle of it, one main character used a word, i havn't heard in English before .... with a quite familiar sounding...


"leitmotiv"


"Ok,"- I thought - "you know there are some other words like 'rucksack' and 'bratwurst' not be forgotten 'kindergarden', maybe there are a lot more"

no sooner said than done, I found an article at.... *surprise*... Wikipedia :)

There I found a real long list of such words... with jewels like:


biermeister, doppelgänger, gemütlichkeit, attackmeister and wanderlust.
But check it out on your own!

Wiki:Deutsche Wörter im Englischen

Vice versa
even more popular is the usage of English words in the German language... even if it doesn't make any sense :) like handy (cell phone), showmaster (host).
Furthermore, the exact translation of English collocations and proverbs (which won't work) is like a plague....
(There is also a counter movement which practise the principles of "Sprachhygiene", constantly avoiding to use anglicism)
Most common: that makes sense = Das macht Sinn
One list with many vocabulary that is "wrong" translated, you can find.... yeah, you guessed it: at wiki's of course:

Wiki:Denglisch#Twisted...


Why is that? According to a guide for foreign students I could catch, it's because .... simply to be cool! and to pretend expertise and compentence... where actually isn't any :)

If you like this topic, try the "Zwiebelfisch" in my Bloglist ;)

Last: Never miss one: a bullshit generator

This is really great... you need some catchy phrases for your abstract or homework? With the only purpose to fill some lines and say nothing at all?
Then, this is, what you need: Try and check it out ;)
Bullshit-Generator (german)