A useful German word without an English counterpart
Hi everyone!
Today I'm going to share a German word with you that you've definitely needed many times till now, for which there is no English translation, as I've just noticed!
Have you ever had that unbearably dissatisfactory moment, after a heated argument or debate with someone, that you could have said this or that, as a witty comeback, but it is just too late because the argument is over?
In German, we call such unfortunately belated comebacks a "Treppenwitz". In this case, the word "Treppe" means "stairway" and the word "Witz" means "joke". So it would mean a "stairway joke" if directly translated.
The reason it's called that is to imply that a belated comeback would be like a joke made by a person visiting a house as a guest and telling a joke while leaving, while walking down the stairs! :D
Here is how this word is pronounced: https://forvo.com/word/treppenwitz/#de
Thank you for posting @stochasticmind.
Always appreciate learning a new word.....very interesting and fantastic accompanying photograph.
Cheers.
Thank you very much, @bentleycapital ! I'll be sharing more if posts about linguistic culture like this one gain enough interest :)
Have always wanted to learn German to be able to say a lot of things only this language can express accurately. Have watched a lot of YouTube videos of examples of great German words.
German is a great language considering its rich reservoir of words that can accurately describe different situations and concepts, that's why I actually find it easier to write philosophical texts in German! Thanks for your comment, I'll be sharing more of these as a fluent German speaker :)
That's great. Yeah, pour our feed some amazing words! Keep it up :)
You didn't even follow me, how I'm supposed to pour "our feed" some amazing words? :P
Sorry I thought I was already followings you! Followed now. Sorry!
Oh okay no worries! :) I'm still your follower :D
Haha I love how German reduces complete phrases to a simple word
Absolutely Jose, you can build almost any word you want by putting words together like Lego pieces!
Stairway joke.... Funny I fink know why it's sounding trap music to me
You mean it's sounding like rap music to you, when you pronounce "Treppenwitz"? ;)
Oh I love learning about words that don't translate well to English! Great example. My personal favourite foreign word is 'hygge' :)
I think this is from Danish! :D In German you have "Gemütlichkeit" that would correspond to the word "hygge" in Danish. But yes, in English, even though many people come up with "cozy", this word doesn't accurately convey the same meaning that "hygge" or "Gemütlichkeit"
I've never heard the word Treppenwitz.
But this maybe is the cultural difference between different parts of Germany. ^^
Greets Naturicia
Servus Naturicia!
German is not my mother tongue, but I've been a fluent German speaker for around 7 years and I use the word often, and have also heard it several times in different locations in Germany :)
Your blog seems interesting and you just got a follower!
Schönen Tag noch,
stochasticmind
Ah okay. Did you've been in Munich ?
Or it's just me not knowing it. :D
Thanks. ^^
Greets Naturicia
Yes, I've lived in Munich for a few months, never heard it there though :D
There is a word for it in English. (Actually, several words.) Sorry, friend :-(
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/retrotort
Well, I'm sure you could write a new post "A useful English word you're very unlikely to have heard of" and it would be just as relevant, because I've never heard of this word :D
No, I much rather explain the brand new German noun "Treppenwitzerklärungsversuchsblogpost" ;-)
Ich bin schon gespannt darauf ;D Du hast jetzt +1 Follower
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