On our way to our daughter’s horseback riding activity, we always pass by this farmer’s market in Steinbach.

The owner chatted me up a bit, but I did not have the heart to tell him his sign, advertising pumpkins, was misspelled. Plural of Kürbis is Kürbisse.

Pumpkins for sale

This is a beautiful market, worth a stop in any season. They also have a bakery and a small meat shop.

Windecker’s Spezialitäten
Eschborner Str. 32 in 61449 Steinbach (Ts) Tel: 06171 – 98 20 53

Hofgut Windecker in Steinbach

Street sign near Wehrheim

For the category Our own language blunders, I have found another one by chance as we were driving around and getting lost in the darkness on Saturday evening. This time though, it is for the reader to locate the mistake and feel free to share your knowledge with a comment.

The Gemeindevorstand (parish council) either wrote this himself or at least had to approve of the text. Could the blunder be a Hessian dialect?

The sign was spotted outside of Wehrheim, a small town 30 km (20 miles) north of Frankfurt.

The other day I spotted this sign above the store front of a local  shoe shop.

German advertisement

There is a pun intended, but I just don’t see it.

The regular form Sparen beim Schuhkauf means Save money when buying shoes.

Had it been spelled spa(a)ren to lead to the verb paaren (German for: to pair/to match), I’d recognize the ad writer’s intention as in  the idea of matching pairs, or buying one pair and the second one is free, etc.

I need some help with my  German – Can anyone tell me what spahren means?

Phantasie ist unser guter Genius oder unser Dämon.
- Immanuel Kant -

Just a few hours ago we arrived at Frankfurt-Hahn airport with Ryanair. We had a splendid time in Trapani, Sicily, but more about that later on my travel blog.

What I noticed today, and not on 3 April (our day of departure), was the marketing ad for the airport. I cannot fathom what company would publish this as an advertisement slogan.

frankfurt hahn airport - Wir können Flughafen

There is no mistake – as the same message is written in English as well.

frankfurt hahn airport - we can airport

What is the message here? Cheap airport, cheap translation?

On a different note, Ryanair is turning into a hardcore flying sales engine. Not only flight attendants, but also pilots have to announce items for sale. If you try to rest, be assured to wake up about every 10 to 15 minutes for an advertisement. On the return flight, among the various offers, substitute cigarettes were also advertised for € 6 a pack. After listening to about five different offers, I would not have been surprised to hear goose down feather bedding being sold on board. These flights look more and more like a cheap Werbefahrt (low-priced bus trips around Germany, geared at the older generation, with the intention of selling high-priced items).

What is good about Ryanair? Well, we had a direct flight to Trapani and arrived safely.

When Germans use English for marketing products, typos might slip through such as in the following candy product.

mini fruits a.k.a. mini fruties

Sugarland, a jelly brand, sells this big bag full of little ones with various English names such as trolls, happy bears, etc. But mini fruties was nowhere to be found in leo dictionary. The bag itself is to be found at Lidl stores in Germany.

It’s a  yummy gummy, nevertheless.