The verb greissel, also spelled greisle, means to “disgust,” “sicken” or “irritate,” as in That greissels me or I stayed greisseled about that for a long time. Greissel comes from a family of German words that...
The handy German neologism Impfneid literally means “vaccine envy.” It’s one of many German words coined during the COVID-19 pandemic. Neid in German means “envy” and Impf, meaning “vaccine,” derives from...
Emily in San Diego, California, reports her father’s side of the family has a word for the back of the knee: nicket. German speakers refer to that part of the body as the Kniekehle, from German words meaning “knee” and...
Have you ever googled your own name and found someone else who has the very same moniker? There’s a word for that: Googleganger, a play on the word doppelganger, from German words that literally mean “double goer.” This is part of...
Giving your baby an unusual moniker may seem like a great idea at the time. But what if you have second thoughts? One mother of a newborn had such bad namer’s remorse, she poured out her heart to strangers online. Speaking of mothers and...
Sitzfleisch, from German words that literally mean “sit-flesh,” refers to perseverance–the ability, in other words, to sit and endure something for a long period of time. This is part of a complete episode.