It’s quite astonishing what kind of Germanisms have made it into the English language – and what change of meaning they sometimes undergo in the process. Today’s term I want to dissect is Katzenjammer (pronounce: ‘cut-sen-yum-muh, i.e. cats wailing or cat lament). Now, if you have some awful sounds in mind, that pretty much nails it, although the word doesn’t literally refer to cats. Of course not!
Katzenjammer describes the inner discord of a person which basically ends them in a state of upset. It is the state after some exuberant rejoicing and celebrating, kind of the downer on the day after. It’s that of ruing the former ecstasy or (alcohol-induced) intoxication, in other words, a hang-over. Germans don’t call the latter Katzenjammer, though, but rather Kater (pronounce ‘kaa-tuh, i.e. male cat or tomcat).
What I found about the German etymology for Katzenjammer was way less attractive than a fluffy cat of any gender, though. Apparently (at least according to Wikipedia) Katzenjammer derives from a late baroque/early romanticist term Kotzen-Jammer (pronounce: ‘cot-sen-yum-muh, i.e. barfing while wailing), quite a descriptive term for the physical state of somebody intoxicated. To be honest, I have rarely heard any German use the term Katzenjammer for anything else but inwardly bewildered upset, and only the term Kater for the less appealing physical state.
If we go more literally as to cats wailing, there is another German term that is Katzenmusik (pronounce: ‘cut-sen-moo-‘zeek, i.e. cats’ music). Maybe that is what a Norwegian band also had in mind when they called themselves Katzenjammer after having been indicated that, with their original approach to music, they were outcasts of their school. But judge for yourselves whether they had any reason to feel Katzenjammer – one of their albums made it to place 7 immediately in Germany’s Top Ten Album Charts at its debut.
Am I familiar with the feeling of Katzenjammer? You bet! Strangely enough it always happens when I have just published another book and should be beside myself with joy. There’s this mix of overwhelming exhaustion, achievement, loss, worry, and emptiness. In other words, I simply have to overwrite that feeling, which is why I immediately immerse into another project while working on marketing and sales for the former one. So, the Katzenjammer is as short as possible.
How well I remember The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip (my favorite) while growing up in Chicago in the 1940’s.
How interesting! The Katzenjammer Kids never ever crossed my path!
years ago there was a comic strip called “The KatszenJammerkids. read I all the time when I was a child.
I just looked it up. Indeed, it was so famous that it was run in different nations under different titles. Kind of a modern Max and Moritz version. Interesting. Thank you 🙂