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German may be the most widely spoken language in the European Union, but let's be honest - it's just downright funny sometimes. We roasted French, so now it's time for the German language to have its turn.

People around the world learning how to speak German have long struggled with German's fearsome grammar, in which multiple funny words are stuck together to make more descriptive terms. This leads to things like long, aggressive store names and job titles, as well as migraines for tourists and expats in Germany. The spelling of these long German words is an even more sensitive subject.

Since German is an ancestor to English, a lot of funny German words were passed down to us but changed in spelling over time. The original German forms of these words now have... Well, 'interesting' connotations. See for yourself below.

Oh, and just for the lols, here is the longest word in German - Donaudampfschifffahtselektrizitatenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengessellschaft. Standing proudly at 80 letters, this word translates to "Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services" and is an absolutely real concoction of letters. Try not to break your tongue with it!

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    However, according to Olly Richards, a polyglot and the founder of I Will Teach You A Language, German actually isn't too difficult to master.

    "One of the main reasons German isn’t all that hard to learn is that German and English originate from the same language families and share more similarities than you probably realize," Richards wrote. "Both German and English are Indo-European languages that stem from the Germanic family of languages. About 40% of German vocabulary is similar to English vocabulary, which is good news for native English speakers!"

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    #3

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    Richards said that pronunciation is also more straightforward than you might think and grammar is relatively easy to pick up thanks to recognizable patterns. "If we examine the phrases 'what is that?' and 'was ist das?', the connections are obvious."

    Also, the polyglot thinks that it's is much easier to pronounce words phonetically in German than in English. "In English, letters often change sounds without any logical explanation. This isn’t the case in German."

    "Although some aspects of German may seem difficult, once you break the language down, it's not actually that hard."

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    Troux
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    These all have direct English equivalents: "I got tossed in the back of a car" "We came together after the movie" "I gave my bird what she needed last night"

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    #10

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    Juana
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Why do the write the names of the languages and then throw in Mexico? For continuity they should have written Spanish. And a flag of Spain.

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    #11

    Hand Shoes Make Perfect Sense

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    Roman Hans
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Here Germany makes much more sense. Why make up a new word when you can repurpose old ones? Gloves really are “hand shoes.”

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    #14

    Funny German Language

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    Volker Burmester
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sechs is german for six and sound almost like sex. Vier means four in german and sounds like fear. And fünf is german for five.

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    #15

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    Mary Peace
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The French say "How are you called?" when they want to know your name. I suppose it's like asking "How do I get your attention?" really.

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    Hans
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    All of these have a different connotation and add to the richness of communication. You would also rather say "for which purpose do you use a rifle" than "why", if you seek to explore the intention.

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    Tomek Sztuk
    Community Member
    4 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Brilliant, although it's a purposefully complicated joke name :D Fahrradständer is a real German name for a bicycle stand, above says something in line of "climate protection enforcing device securing place" ;)

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    #23

    Funny German Language

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    Lilya
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Person: That's amazing! Me: That's sausage to me. Person: No, the post I was talking about. Me: SAUSAGE

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    #24

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    JuJu
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Nope. We use both. Usually depending on the vowel or Umlaut before the ss/ß.

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    When Even The Simpsons Had To Show The World How The German Language Is Trolling Everyone

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    Kateryna
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    "Die" is "the" relating to the feminine gender... so it sounds like they are indicating Bart is female

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    Hans
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    You may need context. Essen is a town in the Ruhr area. Essen means food. essen means to eat. "Wollen wir heute in Essen ein wenig Essen essen?" thus makes sense.

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    #29

    German Is A Beautiful Language.

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    Nadine Bamberger
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'd go with "Klugscheißer" (clever-pooper), don't know what that word above is supposed to mean.

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    Cat Meow
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Someone count the points please. I'm curious. (I really don't play Scrabble... XD)

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    Dee Hunter
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    And if you REALLY want to confuse them: Use Russian. They have two more cases.

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    #39

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    Tiny Dynamine
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    For your information, German isn't shouted aggressively by Germans at all. We imply that from the second world war because of how the Gestapo were. If you say the above German word normally, it sounds quite nice.

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    Femme Finn
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Whoa! Same in Finnish, pesukarhu. I guess it comes directly from German.

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    Nadine Bamberger
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Emphasis on the first syllable- possible grave bodily harm court case coming your way, emphasize the last part and you're good.

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    JuJu
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    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    But there is only one that can suck and blow! The famous Heinzelmann.

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    #49

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    Femme Finn
    Community Member
    4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well when you really think about the word "butterfly", is it a sexy word? Butter. Fly.

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    #52

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    #53

    Funny German Language

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    Sarah Schmidt
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    A few years ago I saw a video about how english sounds to non-english speakers. Is there a video like that about the german language? Do we really sound that bad? I really want to know!

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    Funny German Language

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    Gunnar Schreck
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Correct translation is "Wissenschaft". This here would translate into "Natural Sciences"

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    #60

    Funny German Language

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    Little Menace
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The Holzweg one is a favourite of mine because you can tell where it's from. In Germany [and probably other places], there are paths through the forest that lead nowhere apart from a big pile of felled wood, stored there by the woodcutters. So if you end up at a dead end staring at a pile of wood, you are on the wood-way. I.e the wrong path.

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    #62

    Funny German Language

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    Brigitte
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Only the ballpoint pen is called Kugelschreiber. Every other pen is Stift.

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    #64

    Funny German Language

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    Alexander Constantin Frenzel
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    It comes from "Hasenpfeffer" which is a German dish close to a rabbit Gulasch with fresh blood in it. It is mainly seasoned with grounded pepper.

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    #66

    Funny German Language

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    Francesca Bellan
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Weird! In Italian we also use smoking, mobbing and pullover in exactly the same way :-D

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    #67

    Funny German Language

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    Amanda H.
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Give me your answer so otherwise (That's what it says..) I must always speak German and "give you fear"

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    #68

    Funny German Language

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    Nela Rothenbach
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm sorry but it's: Blütenblätter - without n. Yes, German plural froms are just as complicated as the rest of the language; -)

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    #69

    Funny German Language

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    Jörg Zingler
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Thats the politically correct new name. The old one is: "Negerkuss". (negroes kiss)

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    #71

    Funny German Language

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    Intensive Panda
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Those words make sense but are actually made up (as I tried to explain in the comment section on the bottom)

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    #73

    Funny German Language

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    #74

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    Cat Meow
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Now I now what the inspiration to Pushing Daisies was... didn't take me like 10 years or so. Nope. XD

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    #76

    Funny German Language

    Funny German Language

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    Just a Purpler
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Does it really? I mean this sentence makes sense in "Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo", but none of us actually understand it the first time we hear it...

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    #80

    Funny German Language

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    Funny German Language

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    Intensive Panda
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    because "Tafel" has several meanings and Google Translator somehow manages to pick not the right one. EVERY.SINGLE.TIME.

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    #82

    Funny German Language

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    Hellysal
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Polish: Samolot (flies on its own) :D And for car: Samochód (walks on its own) c:

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    #83

    Funny German Language

    Funny German Language

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    Anna Linnaeus
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I'm a 70's baby and used to read German pop mag Bravo in the 80's and remember the articles on Back to the Future. Zurück zum Zukunft takes some serious tongue-wrapping.

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    #85

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    Joe Dad
    Community Member
    7 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I don't think it's funny at all. Hitler was no laughing matter. Moreover, he was born in Austria.

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