English words derived from German culture
The following youtube clip just sums it all up in naming all the strong German feelings going from the need for lebensraum and angst to fahrvergnügen (not listed in the Webster’s Dictionary…yet) to schadenfreude.
Being German myself, it is hard to know how much of a cliché is rooted in these words and how much of it is so true.
The Germans want their privacy, hence Lebensraum.
They can be driven by Angst for their security.
The Fahrvergnügen has been invented by VW back in the 90s to advertise the German car industry.
Schadenfreude is definitely on the list, but seems contradictory for a country which has to pay church tax (shouldn’t church goers be without schadenfreude?) Schadenfreude – another term coined for this emotion is Gluckschmerz – stems from envy, and the Germans are known for Neid (envy).
Well, Germans don’t know really know about the meaning of these terms meant for English. These words have no negative connotations for them.
Tags: angst, Fahrvergnugen, German envy, lebensraum, schadenfreude
August 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
[...] Original post by Maria [...]
August 24th, 2008 at 11:25 am
I knew that angst was in the dictionary, but I didn’t know about the others! I will remember that I can use these words in my writing.
November 20th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Very interesting article, i bookmarked your blog
Best regards
December 1st, 2008 at 11:39 pm
save to my Bookmarks )
September 4th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Congratulations, great idea and promptly
September 7th, 2009 at 12:39 am
[...] Germans value added financial security to compensate for their angst, and banks, as well as the German ADAC profit from this by promoting the set up of a driver’s [...]
October 11th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
Can I quote from myself with the link to you?
October 25th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
@Polprav,
Sure, go ahead and link to my site. Sorry for the late response…:)