List of pseudo-German words adapted to English

List of pseudo-German words adapted to English

This is a list of pseudo-German words adopted from the German language and adapted in such a way into English that their original meanings are no longer readily recognised by indigenous German speakers due to the new circumstances in which they were being used in English:

  • Blitz – ("The Blitz") Chiefly British use, the sustained attack by the German Luftwaffe from 1940 to 1941 which began after the Battle of Britain (Luftschlacht um England). It was adapted from "Blitzkrieg" (literally "lightning war", meaning sudden, quick war), the sudden and overwhelming attack on many smaller European countries and their defeat by the Wehrmacht. "Blitz" (German for "bolt of lightning") has never been used in actual German in its aerial-war aspect and became an entirely new usage in English during World War II.
    • In American football a "blitz" occurs when any number of defensive players other than those on the defensive line abandon their normal position and attack the offensive backfield in the hopes of quickly outnumbering and overwhelming the offensive blocking scheme, before the quarterback or ballcarrier can react, possibly causing a loss-of-yards, sack, risky throw, incompletion, fumble, interception, etc. Since it can leave the defensive structure under-manned, a blitz is a high risk high reward defensive strategy, one which can be utilized against either the passing game, or the running game.
  • Hock for a German white wine, derived from Hochheim am Main in Germany
  • stein or beer stein – usually refers to a decorative beer mug made out of a non-transparent material; the term is derived from German Steinzeug "stoneware", a material that went out of fashion for beer mugs at the end of the 19th century, and has since been replaced by glass for hygienic reasons. Stein just means "stone" in German, where beer mugs are called Bierkrug (or Maßkrug or Maß for a one-liter mug).
  • (to) strafe – in its sense of "to machine-gun troop assemblies and columns from the air", became a new adaptation during World War I, of the German word strafen – to punish. In recent years "strafe" has referred specifically to the horizontal yawing motion of an airplane raking an area with machine-gun fire, and is now also used to mean "to move sideways while looking forward", so that many first-person shooter computer games have "strafe" keys.[citation needed]
  • Mox Nix – from German idiom "macht nichts". Often used by U.S. servicemen to mean "whatever" or "it doesn't matter".[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ The Word Detective, word-detective.com, 7 June 2007, http://www.word-detective.com/060704.html, retrieved 25 December 2007 [unreliable source?]

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