Author Becky Garrison from Greater Portland, Oregon, has been a professional writer since 1994 with experience in nonfiction book, magazine, and online writing. She received a dual MDiv/MSW degree from Yale Divinity School/Columbia University in 1992, a background that led her to write about the rise of secular spirituality, religious satire, and faith & politics, […]
Across the Fence
Across the Fence: Wirtschaftswunder
You probably have heard of this Germanism in the English language, describing the “economic miracle” that happened to Germany after World War II. The Wirtschaftswunder (pronounce: ‘veert-shafts-voon-dah) was the rapid reconstruction and development of the Western German (and Austrian) economy after complete devastation. The term was apparently coined by The Times in 1950. This song […]
Across the Fence: Sitzfleisch
The German language has a lot more humorous expressions than most people credit the “people of the poets and philosophers” for. Here’s one of those that has made it into the English language in its abstract meaning: Sitzfleisch (pronounce: ‘zits-flie-sh). It literally means flesh to sit on and describes a specific human body part, namely […]
Across the Fence: Mannschaft
Looking into lists of Germanisms in the English language, I recently came across one that astonishes me and that I have never heard anybody use before. “Mannschaft (pronounce: ‘munn-shufft, meaning team) apparently refers to Germany’s national male soccer team whereas “Nationalelf” (pronounce: ‘nut-sea-o-naahl-elf, meaning national eleven) is the nickname for Germany’s national female soccer team. […]
Across the Fence: Bismuth
How do you feel about chemistry? I’m not talking about that between people but that of the periodic tables in your former classrooms. As uncomfortable as I do? I have to admit that I had to look this one up because I knew it was on that table but never had to deal with it. […]
Across the Fence: Gesundheit
What do you say when somebody sneezes? Some of you may say “God bless you”. Others will use the Germanism “Gesundheit!” (pronounce: ga-‘zoont-hite), which means health and is a kind wish on the sneezer. How this word made it into American English? Because of the vast numbers of German immigrants, of course. Don’t ask me […]
Across the Fence: Hamster
We all have encountered this Germanism during the Corona virus pandemic – hamster (pronounce hum-stah). Indeed, the English version of the noun and verb is identical in its unconjugated or undeclined form whereas the German infinitive adds an “n”, hamstern. As a linguist, I’m thrilled of course, to find that word, although allegedly derived from […]
Across the Fence: Hosenrolle
How often have we laughed about the situations created on stage or in films when a woman is cross-dressing as a male and gets mistaken for one or makes the oddest mistakes BECAUSE she is a woman? Think, for example, of Shakespeare’s comedy “As You Like It” in which Lady Rosalind dresses as a man […]
Across the Fence: Rollmops
First of all, Happy New Year to you, dear reader! How did you celebrate the turn of the year? Did you end up with a little hangover? If so, Germans have a proven method to deal with it: Rollmops (pronounce ‘rawl-mops). No, it’s not a rolling pug as the name suggests, but a rolled up […]