go ask anonymous

The Art of Seduction with Riker and Guinan

KEVINISMUS The strange propensity to name children un-German, American-sounding names like Justin, Mandy, Dennis, Cindy, and Kevin.

KREISLAUFZUSAMMENBRUCH Kreislaufzusammenbruch, or “circulatory collapse,” is something like “feeling woozy” or “I don’t think I can come into work today.”

HÖRSTURZ Hörsturz refers to a sudden loss of hearing.

FRÜHJAHRSMÜDIGKEIT Frühjahrsmüdigkeit or “early year tiredness” can be translated as “spring fatigue.”

FERNWEH Fernweh is the opposite of homesickness. It is the longing for travel, or getting out there beyond the horizon, what you might call… awaysickness.

PUTZFIMMEL Putzfimmel is an obsession with cleaning.

WERTHERSFIEBER An old-fashioned type of miserable lovesickness that was named “Werther’s fever” for the hero of Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther.

OSTALGIE Ostalgie is nostalgia for the old way of life in East Germany (“ost” means East).

ZEITKRANKHEIT Zeitkrankheit is “time sickness” or “illness of the times.” It’s a general term for whatever the damaging mindset or preoccupations of a certain era are.

WELTSCHMERZ Weltschmerz or “world pain,” is a sadness brought on by a realization that the world cannot be the way you wish it would be.

ICHSCHMERZ Ichschmerz is like Weltschmerz, but it is dissatisfaction with the self rather than the world.

LEBENSMÜDIGKEIT Lebensmüdigkeit translates as despair or world-weariness, but it also more literally means “life tiredness.”

ZIVILISATIONSKRANKHEIT Zivilisationskrankheit, or “civilization sickness” is a problem caused by living in the modern world. Stress, obesity, eating disorders, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.