this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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In Finnish we have "kissanristiäiset" (literally means a cat's christening), which means some trivial and meaningless celebration/event.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (3 children)

Is "das ist mir wurst" a thing? That's one I learned from my MIL (from Bavaria).

I also have a special love for the word "Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung". And yes I had to Google the spelling lol.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

We say "das ist mir Wurst" in Hamburg too, so it must be a pretty universal saying.

Is Mietschuldenfreiheitsbescheinigung used in a saying? The only meaning I can think of is the literal one (attestation of no rental debt)

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You are correct, it's the attestation, not an actual saying. I just think it's wild how many words were shoved together to make this abomination of a word.

[–] meekah 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's called a composite word. English has them too, like schoolbus, but German just went crazy with them. Feels like every other word is a composite

Flugzeug = flying stuff = plane

Glühbirne = glowing pear = light bulb

But some examples just take it on a whole other level. Like "Rindfleisch­etikettierungs­überwachungs­aufgaben­übertragungs­gesetz", meaning "Beef labeling supervision duties delegation law".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

TBF English has words like “backpack”, which then get turned into a verb like “to go backpacking”.

But in some Germanic language like German (Dutch too), you should write all words that describe one noun together as one, which leads to words like huttentuttententoonstelling.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yup that is me sausage is a german thing.

[–] justlookingfordragon 1 points 1 year ago

It's a thing in Hesse, too ;) you can also say "Ist mir Schnuppe" or "Ist mir schnurz", which essentially mean the same thing ("I don't care") but the literal translation is different. "Schnuppe" is the burnt end if a candle wick, but I have seriously no idea what "schnurz" is supposed to be, lol.