Fun Words & Phrases

[spiritualcookie]

I had an idea for a thread that could be fun:

What are some words or phrases that feel vortexy and feel-good to you?

It may be words or phrases that were nicknames you liked,
or it may just be things you like the sound of;
or things that sound beautiful and pretty -
or things that make you laugh -
anything that feels good to you!

[spiritualcookie]

A few of mine:

Dinkel: I loved discovering this word recently! It means Spelt (a type of wheat-like grain) in German and I thought it sounded so cute! It makes me smile every time I see it on the packaging of the snack I ordered


-

Nicknames:

When I was in primary school, our very kind, sweet school principal used to affectionately call the students "sausage" or "poppet" . It always felt so feel-good to me when she said, "Hello Sausage! Are you alright?" or "Oh! Hello there poppet! What can I do for you today?" It felt full of kindness and warmth, and open hearted affection


I had a relative who used to call me and the other kids in the family "Chicken" I think I liked the loving energy behind it more than the word, but thinking of her loving, affectionate tone as she called us kids this is so feel-good to me even to this day : )

[spiritualcookie]

I wasn't even looking for more fun words, but synchronicity put these on my path today!

Some fun phrases that brought a smile to my face:

In German:
(Excuse me for leaving out the dots over some of the letters )

Gloves = "Hand Shoes", handschuhe


Turtle = "Shield Toad", Schildkrote


Slug = "Naked Snail", Nacktschnecke


Tattoo on the lower back above the buttocks = "Ass Antlers", Arschgeweih

Nipple = "breast wart", Brustwarzen

Light bulb = "glow pear", Gluhbirne

(Source: From the youtube video: If English Was Like German! Funniest German Words | Evan Edinger)

And a few others:

[Paradise-on-Earth]

yes, go ahead and mock the German language!! (no offense taken!)

Btw, Dinkel IS wheat, not kind of wheat! Some think it might be the original wheat, some think it is just inside the wheat-family... there are several German villages that are named after the very precious grain, Dinkelsbühl in Bavaria might be the most famous. Dinkel can be harvested green (=Grünkorn, "green grain") and then get desiccated for extremely long storage (then, it was not anymore usable for baking bread, but still very good to feed people with porridges and other mashs).

[simon]

yes, go ahead and mock the German language!! (no offense taken!)

Turtle = "Shield Toad", Schildkrote
Nipple = "breast wart", Brustwarzen

It's funny to me how those two words are the same in Swedish
Turtle = "Shield Toad", Sköldpadda
Nipple = "Breast wart", Bröstvårta

[Paradise-on-Earth]

German is hard, and our habit to pull several nouns together to create long new nouns, seems to make people laugh all over the world, while we Germans find it only reasonable... so there are words as "Scheinwerfer" (=headlights) which literally translate as "light-thrower". In the end, you have words like this:



We also like to adapt words from other languages. Sometimes, that doesn't go so well... our word for cellphone is (no joke) "handy". And our word for a social worker who looks after people living on the streets, is indeed "streetworker". Nobody would hesitate to use this names!

And finally, we have no problem whatsoever with the fact, that the sentence "Ein Kind umfahren" means two completely different things:
1, it means, to drive over a child, and
2, it means (exact same writing!) to drive around a child.

[Paradise-on-Earth]

Turtle = "Shield Toad", Schildkrote
Nipple = "breast wart", Brustwarzen

It's funny to me how those two words are the same in Swedish
Turtle = "Shield Toad", Sköldpadda
Nipple = "Breast wart", Bröstvårta

...the two languages ARE related, aren't they? Swedish sounds soo much like German in so many cases!

[Paradise-on-Earth]

me fun phrases that brought a smile to my face:

They are delicious small donuts, that mostly got prepared in cloisters, in the old ages. When the dough gets dropped into the hot oil, it makes a very special hissing sound...

[spiritualcookie]

yes, go ahead and mock the German language!! (no offense taken!)

I would call what I'm doing to be: "appreciating with a sense of humour"
Whoever came up with these descriptions I can imagine they may have had a smile on their face when they thought of these phrases! And I appreciate the genius of thinking of these terms!

Btw, Dinkel IS wheat, not kind of wheat! Some think it might be the original wheat, some think it is just inside the wheat-family... there are several German villages that are named after the very precious grain, Dinkelsbühl in Bavaria might be the most famous. Dinkel can be harvested green (=Grünkorn, "green grain") and then get desiccated for extremely long storage (then, it was not anymore usable for baking bread, but still very good to feed people with porridges and other mashs).

You have so much knowledge! How interesting! Thank you for sharing! I love reading insights like these!


Since they're both wheat, I got curious what the difference between wheat and spelt are, so I asked chatGPT and it said:
"Spelt contains a slightly higher protein content compared to common wheat and has a different gluten structure, which may make it easier for some people to digest. "

-

aw the word for cellphone, Handy, sounds kinda cute I like it!
When I was learning Mandarin Chinese, the word for cell phone was less cute but slightly similar, meaning "Hand Machine" ("shou ji" shou = hand, ji = machine)

-

That's interesting about the similarities between Swedish and German! Padda - makes me think of toads sitting on lilypads

[Paradise-on-Earth]

I would call what I'm doing to be: "appreciating with a sense of humour"
Whoever came up with these descriptions I can imagine they may have had a smile on their face when they thought of these phrases!

Absolutely!
My Granny (a German herself) made funny murals about German composit nouns to decorate the walls of the workshop in the family business, not only about, but especially about technical terms. I remember the "Zitronenfalter" (brimstone butterfly, literally: One who folds up lemons) or the Kolbenfresser (piston seizure, literally: One who devours pistons) or the Rechenschieber (slide rule, literally: One who pushes a rake).

You have so much knowledge! How interesting! Thank you for sharing! I love reading insights like these!

I LOVE assembling all this fascinating information. But I was called "Klugscheisser" not only once ("Smartass", literally: One who craps knowledge). At this point I wanna mention: "To shit a brick" is an ENGLISH phrase that I really find funny!

Since they're both wheat, I got curious what the difference between wheat and spelt are, so I asked chatGPT and it said:
"Spelt contains a slightly higher protein content compared to common wheat and has a different gluten structure, which may make it easier for some people to digest. "

I know, but nobody has a clue why- as spelt is SO very close to normal wheat... while it is said, it needs more expertise to bake good bread from it...

aw the word for cellphone, Handy, sounds kinda cute I like it!

I was told by our American friends, that they think it's funny because it means a "handjob" for yourself...

When I was learning Mandarin Chinese, the word for cell phone was less cute but slightly similar, meaning "Hand Machine" ("shou ji" shou = hand, ji = machine)

That is impressive! that you know Mandarin, and that they call it that!

Padda - makes me think of toads sitting on lilypads

how cute!!