Schottenfreude. Nuove parole tedesche per la condizione umana

As one who speaks both German and English and regrets not being able to speak other languages, I’ve often mentioned to friends that the former is a much more precise language than the latter. Much like Inuit have been characterized as having more than 200 words for snow—in reality it’s about 50—Germ Leggi tutto

If you're a word-geek, like I am, this book is so much fun.

Where Conlanging Meets Precision German Engineering Here is a rare combination: a book that appeals to word lovers and language freaks, to book design geeks and typography nerds, and to trivia buffs and other assorted aficionados of miscellanea. The book itself is wonderful as a purely physical artifa Leggi tutto

I love words and I love things German, so was really pleased to get this last Christmas. Had a lot of fun reading it, though I felt a tad embarrassed that it took me a few conversations with German friends before I twigged they were made up words! Hahahahaha! Think my favourite is the first one - He Leggi tutto

This book has a particular audience in mind, namely those who are impressed or intrigued or amused by the ability of the German language to contain thoughtful words based on the joining together of smaller words [1].  I do not necessarily think that this is a large audience, but I happen to be someo Leggi tutto

A portmanteau (besides being a large suitcase) is a word that is created by combining or mashing together 2 or more words. Words like chortle, affluenza and bootylicious are all examples of words that are portmanteaus. The book Schottenfreude by Ben Schott takes a series of difficult to explain occu Leggi tutto

Having long harbored the urge to learn German, this book was a natural choice for this "fraulein." Book is very well written and would be a delight to anyone obsessed with language, especially German. The whole premise is that Germans seems to have a word for everything. New car smell - three words