As mentioned in the postscript of Part 1, we thought of so many food expressions that the initial post has now turned into several! Therefore this section is dedicated entirely to verbs (or "action words" (since I'm a teacher and like multiple explanations)).
(And as I didn't have appropriate pictures, you'll be getting macro nature shots from Seattle, WA + Germany instead :) )
And, because these really are just hilarious, I'm going to list them all at the beginning and ask you to GUESS what you think they mean (please feel free to leave your guesses in the comments!). Then of course you can read what they actually mean.
They are:
(And as I didn't have appropriate pictures, you'll be getting macro nature shots from Seattle, WA + Germany instead :) )
And, because these really are just hilarious, I'm going to list them all at the beginning and ask you to GUESS what you think they mean (please feel free to leave your guesses in the comments!). Then of course you can read what they actually mean.
They are:
- (he-*)rumgurken (to cucumber around)
- (etwas) durchwurschteln (to sausage (something) through)
- (etwas) durchnudeln (to noodle (something) through)
- abfrühstücken (to breakfast up)
- (jemanden) vernaschen (to snack (someone) up)
- (he-*)rauspfeffern (to pepper out)
- (he-*)rumeiern (to egg around)
What do you think? Care to guess? I'm curious :)
1. Now, let's start with the nominally vegetable verb
- (he-*)rumgurken
"to cucumber around"
= to wander/meander (sometimes aimlessly) around. It's usually a negative thing, with the implied "Couldn't we just go there directly/quickly?" Often there's an element of confusion involved as well.
2. And now for a meat verb
3. And now carbs!
2. And now for a meat verb
- (etwas) durchwurschteln
"to sausage (something) through"
= to fake your way through something or just get through it however possible, but not necessarily elegantly, ideally or 'correctly'
- (etwas) durchnudeln
"to noodle through"
= to muddle your way through it; get through it -- not very well, but the main point is you made it through -- and then you can go back and correct + polish + do it better the next time
(F's example: to 'noodle' through a choir piece at choir practice, just to get a feel for the whole song and then you can go back and get more of the notes and the timing right [side note: not all choir directors can 'stand' the imperfections of this method, but it can certainly be useful during the learning process :)] )
(F's example: to 'noodle' through a choir piece at choir practice, just to get a feel for the whole song and then you can go back and get more of the notes and the timing right [side note: not all choir directors can 'stand' the imperfections of this method, but it can certainly be useful during the learning process :)] )
4. The carbs may continue here, depending on how you 'break' your nightly 'fast'
- abfrühstücken
"to breakfast up"
= to finish things up/off; to complete something
5. Let's snack**!
5. Let's snack**!
- (jemanden) vernaschen
"to snack (someone) up"
= (this can be romantically speaking or as a parent to a little child), similar to the English expression that someone is so [cute] you could just eat/gobble them up
6. And now let's season!
- (etwas) (he-*)rauspfeffern
"to pepper out"
= to slam/shoot something out (this can be verbally or more literally); there is often something unexpected about this (whether it's a statement, an insult, some piece of news, etc. which comes across really bluntly)
7. And now let's egg? No, this one has nothing to do with throwing eggs.
7. And now let's egg? No, this one has nothing to do with throwing eggs.
- (he-*)rumeiern
= similar to the English expression 'to beat around the bush' or to not really get to the point; can also describe the physical clumsiness, such as your first time on skates
Were you right/close with any of your guesses? Isn't language fun? What are some other 'food' verbs you can think of in English/German/language-of-your-choice?
* Why do I keep putting the "he-" from "herum"/"heraus" in parantheses? Because it is quite common to colloquially just start with the "rum-"(or "raus-) part of things (no, this does not lead to wanton drunkenness, because "rum" in this case means "around" as in "around and about" :) ) (and "raus" means "out")
In fact, I sometimes feel that Germans don't even realize that they are using a shortened version of this, but, because I am fairly certain "herum-" is the 'proper'/'full' way to say things, I generally do :)
I do this, even though I'm not always worried about prescriptive over descriptive -- I am married to a pragmatic Linguist after all, who generally prefers the descriptive (how people ACTUALLY talk) over the prescriptive (how people are 'supposed to' talk) way of doing things :). There are certainly some things where I prefer the 'proper' grammatical way of doing things (such as using the appropriate its/it's or there/their/they're in English) but in other cases I don't really care (such as ending sentences with prepositions :) )
In German I tend to strive for correctness more, but that's mostly because, as a foreigner, I get less slack than a native, so I aim for a good impression even if the usage is less common.
** Apropos snacking: Funny story from when we were new in Kiel. I heard a woman at our local congregation saying "Schnacken wir später." I interpreted this to mean "We'll snack later" but I was rather confused why this sort of behavior needed an appointment or a promise that it would be done...
It was only a while later (thanks to my checking out Asterix from the library and it accidentally being the Platt-Deutsch*** version) that we realized "schnacken" does not mean "to snack" but just means "to talk" or "chat"....This of course does not expressly prohibit parallel snacking...
***Although most Germans in Northern Germany no longer speak "Plattdeutsch" (linguistically speaking a form of Low German, more closely related to Dutch), this and other words have been adopted into the northern dialect of High German (Hochdeutsch...again there are 2 linguistic versions of what that means, but we've had enough asterisks for today :) )
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| Okay, I did find an egg picture to share! |
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| Okay, nature + nature-like :) |
* Why do I keep putting the "he-" from "herum"/"heraus" in parantheses? Because it is quite common to colloquially just start with the "rum-"(or "raus-) part of things (no, this does not lead to wanton drunkenness, because "rum" in this case means "around" as in "around and about" :) ) (and "raus" means "out")
In fact, I sometimes feel that Germans don't even realize that they are using a shortened version of this, but, because I am fairly certain "herum-" is the 'proper'/'full' way to say things, I generally do :)
I do this, even though I'm not always worried about prescriptive over descriptive -- I am married to a pragmatic Linguist after all, who generally prefers the descriptive (how people ACTUALLY talk) over the prescriptive (how people are 'supposed to' talk) way of doing things :). There are certainly some things where I prefer the 'proper' grammatical way of doing things (such as using the appropriate its/it's or there/their/they're in English) but in other cases I don't really care (such as ending sentences with prepositions :) )
In German I tend to strive for correctness more, but that's mostly because, as a foreigner, I get less slack than a native, so I aim for a good impression even if the usage is less common.
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| Part natural nature + part natural goodness :) |
It was only a while later (thanks to my checking out Asterix from the library and it accidentally being the Platt-Deutsch*** version) that we realized "schnacken" does not mean "to snack" but just means "to talk" or "chat"....This of course does not expressly prohibit parallel snacking...
***Although most Germans in Northern Germany no longer speak "Plattdeutsch" (linguistically speaking a form of Low German, more closely related to Dutch), this and other words have been adopted into the northern dialect of High German (Hochdeutsch...again there are 2 linguistic versions of what that means, but we've had enough asterisks for today :) )
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