German words that sound inappropriate in English
The first word is Abfahrt which means to depart but sounds like somthing about farting. Then there is dick: Er ist dick means he is fat. How about ³óö°ù±ð²Ô, to hear, and just when you think you have the rules of grammar figured out, the rules change, lol. My Mom said she couldn't teach us German because we kept laughing at words like this. Now you must admit these words sound like words that aren't thrown around in public social situations, lol.
Sent by: Syndi
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Some of the early shipments during the Berlin Air Lift were labelled "Gift from the USA".
Understandably, some of the recipients were a little wary!
If pronounced with the correct umlaut vowel sound, ³óö°ù±ð²Ô doesn't sound inappropriate to me as a native English speaker.
hell - bright
damit - therewith
womit - wherewith
³óö°ù±ð²Ô - to hear
Bubi (/booby/) - young boy
dick - chubby, thick
Fach - subject, cubby hole
¹ó䳦³ó±ð°ù - subjects, cubby holes
aß (/ahss/) - ate
Aas (/ahss/) - carrion (rotting carcass)
Abfahrt - departure
Autofahrt - car ride
Bootsfahrt - boat ride
Butterfahrt - trip to buy duty-free merchandise
Busfahrt - bus ride
Extrafahrt - additional ride
Fahrtenmesser - travelling knife
Fahrtroute - travel route
Fahrtwind - airstream, air turbulence
Familienfahrt - family trip
Gratisfahrt - free trip
Kaffeefahrt - cheap bus trip combined with a sales pitch
Kamerafahrt - tracking shot
Klassenfahrt - field trip
Lustfahrt - pleasure cruise
Radfahrt - bike trip
Seefahrt - navigation
Sternfahrt - car rally
Tagfahrt - day trip
Taxifahrt - taxi ride
Testfahrt - test drive
Trampfahrt - sea cargo hauling to multiple ports
Please remember that, in English, Dick is a name (short form for Richard, confer also the phrase 'every Tom, Dick or Harry' and the cartoon character Dick Tracey). But there are also other English names that sound inappropriate or ridiculous. The English names Gail or Gayle sound similar to the German word geil. For its (complex) history of meaning and changes of meaning, please consult Wikipedia, but in the modern slang of the young, geil means cool, great (ein geiler Film, a great movie), but referred to girls and women, geil mostly means sexy (Kylie Minogue is in Germany sometimes called geilie Kylie). In German, Depp (Johnny Depp) is a swearword, meaning 'idiot'. The German word Brett (Brad Pitt) means board, shelf.
I think it's simply hilarious that Brad Pitt is nothing but a shelf and Johnny Depp who I hate is an IDIOT!!
In German the word Gift translates to English as 'poison'. The Germans say, "Buy an Andenken for your wife, but buy a Gift for your mother-in-law".
We used to laugh at the German for father as Vater seemed to describe a lot of dads!
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