Untranslatable German words

Untranslatable words are wonderful things. Here are a few of my favourite German ones.

Sondern = it’s a type of “but” (but different).

Doch = it’s a type of “but” (but different).

Stammtisch = a regular meeting round a table, where you can play cards, talk politics and drink.

Kaffeekränzchen = a regular meeting round a table where you can eat big cakes.

Gemütlichkeit = “cosiness”, the mood of a Kaffeekränzchen. (This word is so important it even has its own Wikipedia page, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gem%C3%BCtlichkeit

Spießig = “middle class people with uninspiring lives full of routine and with a penchant for conformity”.

– “petty bourgeois”

– “(very) middle-class”

– “philistine”

– “narrow-minded”

– “square”

– “white-bread”  (?)

http://forum.wordreference.com/threads/spie%C3%9Fig.35632/

I would add “unimaginative”. Think of the Dursleys in the Harry Potter books.

Note: this word is so untranslatable, you may consider setting up a  Stammtisch to discuss it.

This post first appeared in a longer version here: https://speakeasyandwritewell.wordpress.com/2015/05/25/these-are-a-few-of-my-favourite-words/