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My favourite German word

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Re: My favourite German word

#61

Post by _whoDis »

card_zero wrote: post #17
llopium wrote: post #9

That’s great, but gegenstand just means object, and that definition of object is part of English, e.g. “The object of having this talk is to learn about how we can do better.” You don’t hear that said much anymore, but in the 20th century it was said fairly regularly.

Object has "against" in it, that's the ob- part. The other part is "throw". The German comes from the Latin. (Why did they go for -stand instead of a word for throw?)

Oppose is a pretty good English word to use also. Pose and stand are of similar meaning

Re: My favourite German word

#62

Post by usr1106 »

WalterBright wrote: post #31
jhoechtl wrote: post #24

Aufstand, Unterstand, Verstand, Umstand. In german we have some of those -stand words.

Wiederstand - resistor https://generalatomic.com/teil1/index.html

Widerstand can be the resistor (an object) or resistance, protest, opposition (not an object).

Re: My favourite German word

#63

Post by usr1106 »

gerdesj wrote: post #58

I remember the first time I saw Gewerbegebiet on a street sign whilst out cycling in West Germany with the fam. and thinking: "that's a proper word". It took me a while to learn how to pronounce it. It's not really harder than "industrial estate" but it looked very exotic to me back then. I should also note that "Ausfahrt" is the largest town/city in Germany - its everywhere according to the autobahn signs!

Take a boat trip in the Swedish archipelego and notice that many islands are called "Kabel". Or when in Finland "Kaapeli".

Re: My favourite German word

#65

Post by ahartmetz »

exiguus wrote: post #54
pflenker wrote: post #41

I find it mildly amusing that the article makes the following point regarding "Gegenstand": > Objects aren’t just inert stuff – they do something. ...while many words in Germany are just "stuff" (Zeug). A plane is a Fly-Stuff (Flugzeug). A lighter is a Fire-Stuff (Feuerzeug). A vehicle is a Drive-Stuff (Fahrzeug). A toy is a Play-Stuff (Spielzeug). And the list goes on!

I think the difference is, that Zeug can be used as suffix (and you put a verb in front of it), like in Spielzeug (Stuff to play with) and it also has the meaning of Instrument or Tool like in Fahrzeug or Flugzeug.

There is also the old-fashioned word Zeugmeister, the person responsible for the equipment (stuff). I think it's most commonly used in professional football clubs?

Re: My favourite German word

#66

Post by ahartmetz »

fsckboy wrote: post #29
yoz-y wrote: post #6

So if an object is “standing against” you could we say it is “objecting” you?

in the middle ages, a matter before a court was called a "thing"

And a Germanic tribe's parliament-like assembly was called the Thing.

In modern German, "Sache" is one of the words used for a matter before a court. Its meaning overlaps, but is not the same, as "Ding" ("thing").

Re: My favourite German word

#68

Post by n4r9 »

jhoechtl wrote: post #24

Aufstand, Unterstand, Verstand, Umstand. In german we have some of those -stand words.

In English I guess we have understand and withstand. And used to have words like counterstand and overstand.

While thinking about this I had a curious thought that maybe the word "against" derives not just from "agegn" but from a two word phrase "agegn standan". Google is not helpful. Claude AI suggests that the "st" ending actually developed later, likely through analogy with other prepositions ending in "-st" like "amongst" and "whilst."

Re: My favourite German word

#69

Post by weinzierl »

My favourite German word and the one I miss most in other languages is the ubiquitous

"doch".

I love that it can stand alone. To the best of my knowledge there is no word in English with the same function that can be used as a standalone answer.

When used in a sentence it usually stands in the middle and nicely sandwiches the criticism.

"Ich hab's Dir doch gesagt!"

You can put it in front if you want to get straight to the point:

"Doch, ich hab's Dir gesagt!"

It is never at the end like in the English equivalent:

"I told you so!"

The appended "so" feels much like kicking someone when they're already down.

Obvious real world usage example for standalone "Doch!":

https://youtube.com/watch?v=WJlZLG9UXSY&pp=ygUMbmVpbiBkb2NoI...

Re: My favourite German word

#70

Post by lukan »

weinzierl wrote: post #69

My favourite German word and the one I miss most in other languages is the ubiquitous "doch" . I love that it can stand alone. To the best of my knowledge there is no word in English with the same function that can be used as a standalone answer. When used in a sentence it usually stands in the middle and nicely sandwiches the criticism. "Ich hab's Dir doch gesagt!" You can put it in front if you want to get straight…

Yeah, obviously I thought about that clip, once you mentioned "doch", but how is it actually in the french original? Is there a french "doch"?
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