Living in Germany means that German words sneak into my vocabulary and get rid of the English ones, like a cuckoo.

Here are some of the words I use on a fairly regular basis, in my blog as well as in ‘real life’. If you find one I haven’t got on here, please write to me and tell me.

Naja – ‘no-yes’ – there isn’t really a translation for this, which is why I’ve adopted it. It means I’m not decided about something, or don’t want to go into it further, or haven’t got anything else to say, or want to move on to the next part of the story 😉 Often you can swap it for “well” or “whatever”.

Hauskreis – ‘House-circle’ – Bible-reading-group. There are 14 of us, but most of the others are married with kids, so a usual evening finds 8 of us sitting together reading the verses the following Sunday’s sermon will be based on. We also talk about what’s going on in our lives, and pray for/with each other.

Tja – It’s a noise something like “cha”, which can be used in a lot of cases, often when thinking (or wanting to say) something you aren’t actually going to say. (“I’ve left my calculator at home” “Tja.. (“fool”) What are we going to do about that?”)

ZwangsUrlaub – compulsory holiday (work closes, and all employees are forced to take holiday)

Gott und die Welt – God and the world – means “everything and nothing”

grüne Welle – green wave – when every light along a road is (or turns) green as you drive up to it, allowing you to drive without slowing down or stopping.

schadenfroh / schadenfreudig – the state of being happy about someone else’s misery/misfortune

(Schadenfreude = the happiness involved above)

matschig – often used for snow – means something like slushy, except not wet, just really really soft

Feierabend – literally: “Party-evening” = evening of not working = what’s left of the day when you finish work

galoptious potfull – this one’s not German 🙂 It’s from a little-kid book about porridge (I think…)