German Lesson

From the excellent site Futility Closet:

Useful German:

• Feierabend: a festive frame of mind at the end of a working day
• Drachenfutter: (“dragon fodder”) a peace offering to a wife from a guilty husband
• Fachmensch: a narrow specialist
• Fingerspitzengefühl: (“fingertipfeel”) intuitive sensibility, confident sureness of touch
• fisselig: nagged and flustered to the point of incompetence
• pomadig: “like hair oil,” able to slip through difficulties
• Verschlimmbesserung: an intended improvement that has made things worse
• Stammplatz: a favorite usual spot, as a table at a café
• Torschlusspanik: (“gate closing panic”) fear that time is running out to act
• Zivilcourage: courage to stand up for what is right
• Zwischenraum: the space between things

The contraceptive pill is the Antibabypille. “I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it,” wrote Mark Twain, “but I talk it best through an interpreter.”