Björnen

When injustice becomes law, resistance becomes a duty!

A gentleman from Bremen retorted yesterday: "What? You mourn the death of a seal? Those animals ought to be exterminated. Do you actually think they serve any purpose? They are the worst fish-thieves there are—thoroughly harmful, useless creatures!" I thought of the dark, moist eyes of those gentle animals, and they seemed to me far more endearing than the views of a pedant who took his own boundless rapacity as a human being entirely for granted.

fuchsen ("to fox") = to annoy

hechten ("to pike") = to dive

reihern ("to heron") = to puke

dackeln ("to dachshund") = to walk slowly

aalen ("to eel") = to bask

vögeln ("to bird") = to have sex

einigeln ("to hedgehog in") = to curl up

hamstern ("to hamster") = to hoard

schlängeln ("to snake") = to wriggle

stieren ("to bull") = to goggle

unken ("to toad") = to gripe, augur doom

Woe to mankind if even a single animal sits in judgment at the Last Judgment.

My good friend Busuu really loves to teach me to be mean to people, so much so I made a whole post about it -- and I've learned even more since then! But sometimes (rarely) it also teaches some nice things to say about people. Here are a few:

lieb und teuer - near and dear in Mode - fashionable, in vogue still - quiet lebhaft - lively, loud mutig - brave nett - nice freundlich - friendly sympathisch - likeable charmant - charming hilfsbereit - helpful, accomodating höflich - polite ehrlich - honest lustig - funny berühmt - famous klug - clever, wise gelernt - skilled pünktlich - punctual geduldig - patient heile - healthy, healed praktisch - practical geehrt - honored, venerated toll - great, amazing genau - exactly, precisely, that's right Weiter so! - Keep it up! Gut gemacht! - Well done! Pass auf dich auf! - Stay safe! Fahrt bitte vorsitig! - Please drive carefully! Ich bezahle - I'll pay

literally: to make a swallow

for your next poem/story

Angsthase - "fear-bunny"; scared person

Backpfeifengesicht - “a face badly in need of a fist”; when another person’s bad behavior makes one angry—so angry that one wishes they could punch the offending person in the face

Fremdschämen - feeling embarrassed by another person’s humiliating public behavior, especially when this action reflects badly on you

Freudenschade - a mirror image of schadenfreude; it means the feeling of sadness one gets upon learning of someone’s good fortune

Glasklar - crystal clear

Lebensmüde - the feeling of being weary of life

Leidenschaft - sufferingship; passion

Luftschloss - "air-castle"; a dream that only exists in your head

Pusteblume - "blow-flower"; dandelion

Schadenfreude - "harm-joy"; the feeling of pleasure one feels from learning of the misfortunes of others

Schön - beautiful

Schreiben - to write

Sehnsucht - the melancholy feeling of longing for someone (or something) once deeply loved, but now gone forever

Traurig - sad

Verschlimmbessern - "to worsen better"; to accidentally make something worse while trying to improve it

Waldeinsamkeit - "forest solitude"; a feeling of quiet serenity while being alone in the woods

Wandern - to walk or hike

Weltschmerz - "world-pain"; world weariness and suffering from the world and its inadequacy

Zauberhaft - enchanting

Zeitgeist - "time-spirit"; the cultural and intellectual climate of a specific era

If any of these words make their way into your next poem/story, please tag me, or send me a link. I would love to read them!

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