this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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What are your favorite examples of German words making it into English? (lemmy.world)
submitted 11 months ago by nodimetotie@lemmy.world to c/germany@feddit.de
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[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

That sounds hilarious

[–] crispy_kilt@feddit.de 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For context: Germans call mobile phones "handys"

[–] nodimetotie@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Yeah, I know. I wonder why, though. It sounds English.

[–] Enkrod@feddit.de 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It's a pseudo-anglicism, like Oldtimer (antique car), Homeoffice (work from home) and Flipper (pinball machine).

Pseudo-anglicisms arise when a languages lexical composites are known in a non-native population without perfect knowledge of the actual vocabulary. All the words above are build out of perfectly fine english composites, just put together in a way that "feels" english to Germans.

There are also pseudo-germanicisms in english too by the way, the NYT had an article about "Freudenfreude" which was supposed to be a german word with the opposite meaning of Schadenfreude. But while it would be a logical german composite-word, it doesn't exist as such. "Freudenfreude" is only ever found in english literature.