German sayings

Are you still in the mood to hear about some more German sayings? I hope you find them as interesting as I do.


If you don't want to do something, but you can't avoid it, then you have to "bite into the sour apple" -- according to a German saying. The origin is easy to guess: If you don't have much choice, you'll even bite into an apple that's sour. When I hear that saying, I already feel my mouth pulling together - yikes!

The English translation, though, is a lot more drastic. "You'll have to bite the bullet." You only do that once, and I don't even want to go there in my mind.
 
I also found that you "have to grasp the nettle" and "swallow the bitter pill". On the while, I have to say I would prefer the apple after all!


Let me know your favorite sayings, and don't forget to sign up for our newsletter !

Beate Boeker

www.happybooks.de

Mischief & Humor from Page 1

German Sayings

It's time for another instalment of my proverb series. Here's a nice German saying that I really like: "My name is rabbit."

Now, what would you think this signifies?

It's an allusion to a young lawyer born 1834 who did some illegal stuff and later denied knowing anything about it. His name was "Hase", i.e. rabbit. His official letter "My name is rabbit, I know about nothing" became a well-known saying that is still being used today. You spread your hands, you look innocent, and you say with a shrug, "My name is rabbit".

That the background story . . . and I always thought it's because rabbits look so innocent!


Do you have a similar expression in English? "I'm innocent" would be the straightforward translation, but that's a bit bland. Do you know something a bit more colorful?


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Beate Boeker
www.happybooks.de
Mischief & Humor from Page 1

German sayings

This is my fourth blog about German sayings, and today, I'm going to give you a proverb that's often used in offices, while the employees complain about the lack of foresight, organization, or strategy in their bosses. Translated word by word, it says "The fish stinks from the head."


I don't think this one takes much imagination to understand, and I guess it's pretty clear where it comes from. Is it true that the fish first starts to stink at the head? I guess you'd have to get pretty close to sniff it. Have you ever tried that? And would you know an English equivalent?

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Beate Boeker
www.happybooks.de
Mischief & Humor from Page 1

German sayings

This is my third blog about German sayings (always brought to you on the 20th of each month! :-), and today, I'd like to introduce you to someone who's very clever and who knows all tricks - in short, someone who's "washed with all waters" (mit allen Wassern gewaschen).
Apparently, this saying goes back to old sailors. They sailed across the oceans and washed themselves with many kinds of water -- and in the course of their life, they picked up a lot of knowledge.

Off the top of my head, I can't think of an equivalent saying in English. Oh, yes, I do. How about "There are no flies on him/her"? I think that fits, doesn't it? And now we immediately have the next question -- where on earth did that saying come from? Do you know it?

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Beate
www.happybooks.de
Mischief & Humor from Page 1

P.S. This is a picture taken from the "Festung Koenigsstein" in the East of Germany.

German sayings

In my last blog post (March 20th), I promised to give you some more English / German proverbs, so here we go:

This is one of my favorite sayings: "Alles in Butter." Literally translated, it means "Everything is in butter" (sounds strange, doesn't it?) and what a German wants to say with this expression is quite simple: Everything is hunky-dory (another great expression!). Or: "Everything is well." It could also mean "All problems are solved" ...

But why butter? Because we Germans eat a lot of butter? Because margarine was used in the past as a cheap substitute? Personally, I love butter, so I think it's a very apt saying. :-)

I've searched for the origin in the Internet and found that it goes back to the medieval ages. Apparently, they tried to transport fragile glasses across the Alps, and many of them broke during transport. So they came up with the idea to fill them with liquid butter. Once it had hardened, the glasses were a lot more resistant to pressure.
Isn't the history of language a fascinating thing?

Maybe you have some more sayings that express the same feeling of having "everything in butter"? If yes, please share them with me!

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Beate
www.happybooks.de
Mischief & Humor from Page 1

German sayings

Every author loves the subtle variations between words, the hidden meanings, the possible misunderstandings. "Bare" words can be fascinating, in any language.

Being a native German who writes in English, I also enjoy the cultural differences that show when it comes to proverbs. Quite often, they make me laugh -- and if you make the mistake of translating them word by word, you'll find that people will scratch their heads.

So I thought I would give you a tour of German proverbs in the months to come. Here's the first one: In English, you say "Don't make a mountain out of a molehill." I love the image that conjures up in my head. It's also a fairly logical escalation from a small amount of earth to a big amount of earth.

However, if you'd translate that into German, people would probably get the idea, but they would still smile because the correct saying is: "Don't make an elephant out of a mosquito." Not quite as logical, but just as effective.

I always wonder how sayings like these developed and settled in every-day language over the years. I believe they are rich in history and tell us a bit about our culture. Though, to be honest, we don't have native elephants here, and while we do have mosquitoes, we have less than other countries. Maybe it's a sign that the Germans love exotic things? Who knows . . .

Tell me about your favorite sayings, and I'll give you the translations!

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Beate
www.happybooks.de
Mischief & Humor from Page 1

Picture by Leander Wattig.
It shows the medieval city of Meissen in Saxony, Germany.

A roundabout way to reach your dreams

Why on earth do you write in English? That's the first question everybody asks when they hear I'm a writer. It does seem strange. After all, I'm German, have lived in Germany most of my life (with some stints abroad), and have unexciting German roots, nothing international there.

The answer is easy. We Germans have a simple approach to life. If you want to be good, make sure you study your subject at university. If you want to change track in the middle of your life, don't. If you want to become an author, keep on dreaming. If you want to have information about how to write, how to submit to a publisher, how to polish a manuscript, see point one. Or make sure you have excellent connections in the industry.

When I had come to that point in my life, I realized (thanks to the Internet) that Americans approach life in a different manner. They shrug, smile at you and say, "If you want it, you can do it." And then they show you how. You're a nurse, a gardener, a lawyer, a manager? Never mind. You can do it. Be prepared to work hard, be prepared for rejections, but go right ahead.

Next, I looked at the German book market and realized that most romances, chick lits, and mysteries were first published in English and then translated into German.

If the German market proves so difficult to crack, I thought, I'll take a roundabout way to become a published author. I'll write in English and target the US market first. Let the Germans make their own translations whenever they'll get round to it.

So I started to write my first novel in English. I guess I was the fool who was never told the impossible. Then, in spite of all the help via the Internet, I was stuck. I knew I had to improve my craft but didn't know how. Everybody said I should join a writer's group, but I didn't know any other writers in my area. Everybody said I should go to a writer's conference, but I couldn't afford the trip to the US. I felt as if I was a desert mouse, trying to learn to ski with all the other mice looking on and shaking their heads.

So I searched the Internet some more and decided to give my manuscript to a professional book editor. I hit a jackpot. Elizabeth Lyon gave me such a detailed report, it was almost longer than my novella. She criticized every single point in detail, but she did it in such a wonderful way that it didn't hurt me (another American talent!). I couldn't wait to go back and make all the changes.

Next, Elizabeth met the then-editor from Avalon Books at a conference and sent me their information. I submitted my manuscript, changed it again according to Avalon's suggestions, and many months later I received the incredible news that I had made it. Avalon Books had accepted my first romance "Wings to Fly"! The desert mouse had learned to ski.

That was in 2008. Today, I've got 12 full-length novels published, three with Avalon Books, the rest independently, and I won't stop writing anytime soon . . . I've even translated my first novel "back" into German, but have found that it's not much fun. I prefer to write in English!

How about you? Have you ever taken a roundabout way to realize your dreams?