Discover Germany | Culture | Language Column
TEXT: ADAM JACOT DE BOINOD | PHOTO: DREAMSTIME
On some rather interesting terms The delights of the German and French vocabulary In this column, author Adam Jacot de Boinod explores the weird and wonderful world of German and French vocabulary, and discovers some rather interesting terms. Let us take a look at what he has found. It’s always interesting to compare the German counterparts to the many common English idioms. - In der Not frisst der Teufel Fliegen: in times of need, the devil eats flies (literally, beggars can’t be choosers) - Ich werde dir die Daumen drücken: I’ll squeeze my thumbs for you (literally, I’m keeping my fingers crossed for you; I wish you luck) - Hals und Beinbruch: break a neck and leg (literally, break a leg; good luck) - Die Katze lässt das Mausen nicht: the cat will not abandon its habit of 132 | Issue 79 | October 2019
chasing mice (literally, a leopard cannot change its spots) - wählen zwischen Hölle und Fegefeuer: to choose between trunk and bark or hell and purgatory (literally, between the devil and the deep blue sea) - am Sankt-Nimmerleinstag: on Saint Never-ever-day (literally, when pigs fly) French is highly imaginative in her adoption of phrases from their literal definition to be given a whole new metaphorical sense: - avoir une araigneé au plafond: to be
crazy (literally, to have a spider on the ceiling) - elle coupe les cheveux en quatre: she is a difficult person (literally, she cuts hair into four pieces) - chercher un poil aux oeufs: to nit-pick (literally, to look for a hair on eggs) - la moutarde me monte au nez: to begin to lose one’s temper (literally, mustard is climbing up my nose) - n’avoir plus un radis: to be stone broke (literally, to be without a single radish) Adam Jacot de Boinod worked on the first series of the BBC panel game QI for Stephen Fry. He is a British author having written three books about unusual words with Penguin Press.