Week 2: a real german word?

 

The German Word That Isn’t Real… but I love it anyway

If you’ve watched How I Met Your Mother (my all-time favorite show), you probably remember Klaus telling Ted about the dramatic German word “Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz.”
It sounds magical, emotional, and super German…
except it’s not a real German word.

But that’s exactly why it’s perfect.

So, is it Real? Technically, no… the show invented it. But it does imitate something real: Germans love building long compound words by sticking smaller words together.

So even though this one is fictional, German could create something similar. The meaning in the show is  “lifelong treasure of destiny” is cheesy i know, but it’s beautiful. And honestly, it’s one of the reasons German fascinates me: it’s expressive, dramatic, poetic, and honestly sometimes looks like someone forgot to hit the space bar.

I’m going to leave here some Real German words that are just as fun.

Fernweh: longing to be somewhere far away

Kopfkino: “head cinema,” wild imagination

Waldeinsamkeit: peaceful solitude in the forest

Kummerspeck: “grief bacon” (emotional eating weight)

German doesn’t give us Lebenslangerschicksalsschatz, but it gives us amazing words English and Spanish don’t even try to express.

Even if the word is fictional, it captures the soul of German perfectly. And if a made up word in my favorite TV show can inspire me…then learning German next year might become my own lifelong treasure 

I hope to see you next week over here!


Click here to watch the clip from how I met your mother, I think you would like it. CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE SCENE

Adriana xoxo



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