The Weirdest German Phrases Explained

[@mizapf]

2. Ich habe zwei linke Hände = I am not very skilled in handiwork (I suck at handiwork) 3. Ich stehe auf dem Schlauch = I'm struggling with remembering something or I can't wrap my head around it 5. Es ist alles in Butter = Everything is settled /prepared nicely 7. Da wird der Hund in der Pfanne verrückt = That knocks my socks off 8. Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof = That's all Greek to me 18. Fernweh literally translates to "Distance woe" (thus less the physical pain, more on the emotional side) And most importantly 23. Ich glaube, ich spinne. This is repeatedly translated wrongly, and I'm afraid it will never be fully cleared up because it is unfortunately always passed on this way. "Ich spinne" is NOT "I spider", not even literally! If so, it would have needed capitalization ("Ich Spinne"). The problem is that many (young) Germans don't even know what the verb "spinnen" actually means because this is too far away from their everyday experience. And, even worse, they don't care about grammar. (In the best case - let's hope for this one - it was initially meant jokingly.) The verb "spinnen" means "to spin" or "to weave", so it is actually what the spider does, but it's not the spider itself. What is eventually meant by this is the "sailor's yarn", and it was originally used as "du spinnst!" (you are telling me sailor's yarn!). This took up the meaning of "you are insane" (in general), hence "I guess I have turned insane" if there is something unbelievable.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

Thank you so much for all this information 🥰 Especially with the ich spinne. If okay with you I look into all of this and i will try and make a short form video about this.

[@mizapf]

​@@DocyinDeutschland I wrote a second comment, but this has obviously been deleted?! My second tip was to check with Wiktionary because it also contains German idioms.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

@@mizapf KZbin can be funny sometimes. I'll double check the filtered comments to see if it is there. I'll be sure to note this site down and have a look :D Thank you for the resource

[@scarba]

You can say to spin a yarn in English which means to tell a story

[@mizapf]

@@scarba Yes, English and German are using the same figurative idiom here. In German it changed semantics slightly to being silly or insane (by telling unbelievable things or nonsense).

[@nordwestbeiwest1899]

"Alles hat ein Ende nur die Wurst hat zwei !"

[@Andi-ft5rt]

The real literal translation from "Ich glaube ich spinne." is "I think i weave." or "I think i (am) crazy." Because spinne(n) is written small so it is a verb meaning one of two things eather "to weave" or "to be crazy.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

Got a few comments about this one. I'll try and make an update video in the future

[@Sat-Man-Alpha]

Very well Done 😂🎉

[@DocyinDeutschland]

Thank you 😂

[@MichaEl-rh1kv]

The last literal translation was not so literal, because it confused a verb with a noun. "Ich glaube ich spinne" is literally "I think I spin" - and spiders are called Spinnen in German because they spin their net. The origin of the phrase are long winter evenings in former times when the villagers came together each week at another neighbor's home to spin their wool or flax, while telling each other wild tales and (crazy) horror stories for entertainment - they did spin their yarn together. Another word with the same origin is flachsen (from Flachs = flax), which means to yarn ridiculous stories or simply to fool around with words.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

This has been mentioned a couple times. I will hopefully make an amendmant to this in a future video

[@albundy7718]

The two left hands phrase originates from the fact that most people are right-handed and in the past even left-handed born kids were forcibly trained to be right-handed. So that makes the left hand the weaker, less skilled hand and when you have two of them you are screwed. :)

[@DocyinDeutschland]

I for one would not enjoy having 2 left hands

[@alexmartin7495]

My favourite is schapsidee (i think i got that right). I have had slightly different translations from different Germans. 1. An idea you thought was great whilst drunk 2. An idea so bad you must of been drunk when you thought of it.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

I love that one 🤣 I'll take note of it if I ever do a part 2

[@jenshartmann1810]

Almost, Schnapsidee and mostly The second but both are right😅

[@germankitty]

Here's another one: "seinen Senf dazutun". Literally, "to add one's mustard" -- meaning, "to put in their 2 cents' worth", as in giving (often unsolicited, and maybe not even helpful) commentary and/or advice, or simply meddling in affairs that don't concern them. Not exactly flattering. Oh, and "nicht alle Tassen im Schrank haben" (not having all cups in the cupboard) --> "da ist 'ne Schraube locker" (there's a screw loose) --> someone's crazy, or an idiot.

[@DocyinDeutschland]

I love these. If I ever do a second part I'll make sure to add these in :D