Hello everyone,
day 12 of our German is Easy Advent Calendar. Today, we’ll learn how to properly
express meh!
in German. And just in case you don’t know what I mean by that… I mean how to say that something was just okay, less than stellar, so-so, okay-ish, passable, tolerable.
And we all know what perfectionist pain in the butts Germans are. If something is not absolutely and utterly perfect, then it’s not good. It’s meh. Or in German:
- geht so
It’s short for “Es geht so” which is literally something like “It gets a pass the way it is.” But it’s really not enthusiastic at all. Geht so really is THE equivalent of meh.
Examples:
- “Na, wie war der Film.”
“Geht so.” - “How was the movie?”
“Meeehhh!”
- “Und Schatz, wie war ich?”
“Geht so.“ - “So honey, how was I/it?”
“You were fine, it was fine.”
- “Hast du was gelernt?”
“Naja, geht so. Ein bisschen was ist schon hängengeblieben.” - “Have you learned something?”
“Well, it’s okay. Some bits did get stuck in my head.”
- “Bist du wieder gesund?”
“Geht so. Schon noch ein bisschen angeschlagen.” - “Are you healthy again?”
“Well, sort of/yes and no. Definitely still a bit under the weather.”
- “Wie gut ist dein Deutsch?”
“Hmm.. geht so. Ich bin noch nicht zufrieden.” - “How good is your German?”
“Meh… so so. I’m not satisfied yet.”
I guess we should note that geht so never comes in combination with to be. So you don’t say something is geht so. You just say something geht so.
- Dein Kleid geht so.
- Dein Kleid ist geht so…. WRONG!
A common alternative is so lala, but this one is limited to judging between positive and negative. So it’s a bit more narrow than geht so.
- Das Wetter war so lala.
- The weather was so-so.
And of course we need to mention ganz ok. It’s a bit more positive, conciliatory sounding than geht so but still it’s clear that there’s much much room for amelioration… uh… I mean improvement.
- “Wie war der Deutschkurs?”
“Ich hatte ein bisschen mehr erwartet, aber nee… war schon ganz ok.” - “How was the German course?”
“I had expected a bit more, but no… was passable for the most part.”
- “Wie gefällt dir meine neue Frisur?”
“Pfff… ja, ist ganz ok.“ - “How do you like my new hair-do?”
“It’s sufficient.”
And that’s it for today. Now you know how to properly … oh… hold on… we actually have a call here. Weird. Like… how do you even call in to an Advent Calendar. Anyway, Stephanie from San Francisco, welcome to the show.
“Hi Emanuel, thanks for taking my call.”
Sure….
“I’m really, really shocked right now. Like… duuuude. Do Germans really tell someone to their face, that their hair-do is ‘sufficient’?!?! Like… I knew Germans are direct and all, but this is so mean.”
Hahaha… no, I was kidding… that’s not really something people would do.
“Phew thank God!”
But for a soup you made, they might actually do that.
“Well… I guess I’m gonna have to get used to that. I’m gonna go to Germany next year, you know.”
Oh cool… well, yeah, if this happens to you don’t take it too seriously. It’s actually a sign of affection because they’re being honest.
“Hahaha… all right. Thanks.”
Thank you for calling.
And to all you guys out there, thanks a lot for listening. Now you know how to properly express the meh and you can actually start practicing in the comments right away by telling me how you liked this post.
Wait… actually, forget that last bit :).
Anyway, what are your experiences with geht so? Have you used it? Have you heard it? Has a German hurt your feelings with it? Let me know in the comments below.
Schönen Tag euch und bis morgen.
wpDiscuz
