“Let them eat cake”
Hello everyone,
day 4 of the Advent Calendar. And today I want to tell you about one of the best German words. At least in my opinion, because it just perfectly captures a concept and it has a fitting “vibe”.
And it’s also one of those words that are really hard to translate and that probably don’t exist in other languages. You know, like Schadenfreude or Zeitgeist.
These two have made it to the English speaking world and the one of today, definitely deserves that too.
Are you ready?
Here it is:
wohlstandsverwahrlost
Wow, what a mouthful.
Yeah, that’s a very “German wordy” German word.”
So let’s break it apart real quick.
The first section is der Wohlstand. If we go literal on the parts, we’d have “the well-stand” and it’s the German word for wealth. Ha… that actually kind sounds a bit like well-stand, if you “squint your ears”… well-stand-wellstnd-wealth. I don’t know… to me, it works.
But the meaning makes sense on a logical level as well. Just think of someone having a good standing in a society from 300-400 years ago. That did involve wealth.
Note, that Wohlstand is not the rich-wealth. It’s more like upper middle class wealth and can also be prosperity. And according to Wikipedia, it also includes non-material things like the ecological or political situation.
But I’d say that in general, people do think primarily of material wealth when they hear Wohlstand.
- Erdöl hat Norwegen Wohlstand gebracht.
- Oil brought wealth/prosperity to Norway.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
All right. So that’s der Wohlstand.
Now, let’s look the second part: verwahrlost. Which looks like we could break it down further, but that wouldn’t actually be helpful, because it’s not really the sum of its parts.
What we’re looking at is the verb verwahrlosen and it’s basically about what happens when someone stops taking care.
Dictionaries suggest translations like to become dilapidated or to deteriorate or to be neglected , but honestly, I don’t like them that much. It’s the vibe, they don’t really catch that and they don’t sound “serious” enough. Like… if a person or place looks verwahrlost, they look REALLY shitty. Think of a homeless drug addict who hasn’t washed themselves in a month or the apartment of a hoarder.
- “Thomas macht mich fertig. Ich war nur eine Woche im Urlaub, und die Küche ist total verwahrlost.”
“Übertreibst du da nicht ein bisschen?”
“NEIN! Hier, guck, ich hab ein Foto.”
“Oh mein Gott…” - “Thomas is driving me crazy. I was on vacation for only one week, and the kitchen is a rundown, filthy ruin.”
“Aren’t you exaggerating a bit?”
“NO!! Here, look, I have a picture.”
“Oh my god…” - Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
Cool.
So now that we know the parts, lets get to the actual word wohlstandsverwahrlost.
And the best way to describe it is with examples and the best one comes from the French royal court. Those were some of the OGs of Wohlstandsverwahrlosung, for sure.
“Let them eat cake.”
Like… duh, these stupid peasants. If they don’t have bread, then they can just eat cake, why are they whining so much.
Absolute classic.
But let’s do a few modern examples:
- A person spitting their gum on the street and when asked about it they say that they just helped create a job for a poor person who gets to clean it up.
- A bunch of young MBA students pissing into the pool in their AirBnB in Thailand after taking a Microdose of “sacred plant medicine”.
- A German influencer who whines and complains every day to their full time nanny about how hard it is to make friends in Dubai and that she (the nanny) has it way easier because she meets people through work.
- A person complaining online that the Amazon delivery driver wouldn’t help assemble the couch, calling the driver “not customer oriented” and saying they should be grateful for some physical labor after all their sitting in the car.
- A person talking about their minimalist, spirutual, vegan lifestyle on their podcast and then snorting coke on the weekend.
Or the most recent example where I’ve seen the word used:
- Influencers complaining endlessly about inflation in Germany and then buying “Dubai Schokolade” for 15 Euro a bar.
(Dubai Schokolade is one of the dumbest trends on social media at the moment)
I think, you know what I am getting at.
It’s a certain decay or lack or morals and values that you’d typically not associate with educated, well-situated people, but that can easily come when you lose perspective.
It’s not about malice so much as about a genuine unawareness why the behavior might … suck.
And it’s not really about “moral decay” in the sense of hedonist city life. I’d say, you can live that and still treat other people with respect.
How to translate it?
Well, I’ve checked a couple of dictionaries as well as DeepL and the suggestion I got was affluent neglect. But as I understand it, this is about kids of rich parents being showered with “stuff” but neglected in the emotional and bonding department. Which can of course lead to a decay or lack or morals and values.
And I think in psychology, Wohlstandsverwahrlosung does have a focus on kids and young adults, but in daily life, the term is used more broadly in German.
Here’s how an example could look like.
- Wohlstandsverwahrloste Kreuzfahrtgäste machen Selfies mit dem Boot voller Flüchtlinge im Hintergrund.
- Morally challenged cruise ship guests take selfies with the boat full of refugees in the background.
- Practice pronunciation – click once to start recording and again to stop
I used morally challenged here and I think it kind of works, but only because the term “cruise ship guest” kind of implies the relative wealth.
Anyway, so that’s wohlstandsverwahrlost, one of my favorite German words.
That I virtually never use. Like… it’s really not that common in daily life.
But it just perfectly captures one very specific conditions or behaviors that can come with wealth.
Let me know how you like it and if you’ve maybe even heard it before. And please let me know how you’d translate it or if you have a similar term in your mother tongue.
That’s it for today, have a good one and I’ll see you all tomorrow.
Bis dann.
PS:
Check out the comments on this one. There’s some really interesting ones and someone brought up the Karen archetype, which is a great instance of the concept.
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Tone-deaf can mean being out of touch with experiences of ordinary people. Does that capture the meaning in English?
Not really. Anybody can be tone deaf, it’s not dependent on class or wealth, but in order to be “wohlstandsverwahrlost”, you have to have some level of wealth.
Also, “wohlstandsverwahrlost” is a more general description while “tone deaf” (I think) is more for a singular situation.
Interesting word and article. I don’t have the time to read the scores of prior comments to see if I’m being redundant, but I couldn’t help noticing how seasonally appropriate this concept is during the time of year when we so frequently hear the questions, “Are there no prisons?” and “The workhouses; they are still in operation?”. My thanks to Mr. Dickens once again.
So, well done on that aspect of today’s German Advent post.
Wohlstandsverwahrlosung has 23 letters. It’s like a DNA strand. It’s amazing that you can write a whole essay about it and tell so many stories to capture its meaning. I don’t think that any language has so much fluidity in making up words as German does. I guess it’s because you can take any random 2 or 3 or any number of words and glue them together and voila: a new word. In English, Affluenza seems to be a good translation, and this really is like an epidemic, because it’s not just random individuals, but whole societies that are wohlstandsverwahrlost, right? I wonder what would happen if all people everywhere had the exact same Wohlstand.
Thank you for the word!
I wonder what would happen if all people everywhere had the exact same Wohlstand.
OMG, communism detected!!
(I’m joking)
I think you’re right that societies can and do have a certain degree of Wohlstandsverwahrlosung. But I really don’t think German is the only language to pull off a word like that.
Many languages have the concept of compounds. Actually, I’ll talk about this in a later post in this calendar, so stay tuned :)
The word „entitled“ can be used in certain contexts to mean the same thing.
After reading the article i was was wondering what’s the closest equivalent in Russian and I believe that would be the verb “зажраться” and all the derivatives you can make out of it. It has the word “жрать” (fressen) as the root and it’s also a reflexive one and the prefix “за” in this case expresses some kind of mistake and too-much-ness.
So probably the “ver-” would be a nice equivalent but i’ve checked the dictionary and found that there is indeed the “verfressen” and also the “ueberfressen” but they both have a slightly different too literal meaning. For our word you can just imagine a person who ate too much fancy food and now he always needs more and more fancier stuff and can’t accept the “regular” simple food anymore – in other words “verwöhnt” with the food – but we use it in abstract sense and it really has that implication that you are in that state because you’re too wealthy.
And of course that sounds quite rude, not sure how rude the word “fressen” is in German but in Russian the most natural animal to apply this word to would be a pig. So add to all that a tiny bit of “compared with animals” notion.
I think “be-” would be a better match for this “za-” (in spirit), as “ver-” can have this undertone of “going away”, and I think I understand your phrasing as a sort of “stuffing oneself”.
Or “über-” as you mentioned. “sich überfressen” is actually a thing.
I think “fressen” and жрать are pretty similar in tone. You can use “fressen” informally with friends, but it sounds rough and is definitely the word for what animals do.
By the way, Bulgarian has the word “разглесен” in a sense of “spoiled brat”. Do you have that, too, in Russian?
Yeah, we do. The word is “испорченный” and that’s like the default translation for “spoiled” for all kinds of situations. And when you say “spoiled child” (in Russian) that would mean that the child is “verwöhnt” (we do have the word for that too)
Wait, I meant “spoiled” for kids. “razglezen” is “gledam” (to look) combined with the prefix “raz-” which in Bulgarian expresses completion and excess. So someone who was “looked after too much”. What’s your word for this type of “spoiled”?
(sorry, I was too lazy to switch to cyrillic script right now)
Whoa, took me 4 days to answer because of the job and everything. Ok, i asked Chat GPT about that bulgarian word and it claims that “разглезен” and “гледам” have different roots despite they are very similarly written.
But anyways in russian there are basically 2 ways to express the “spoiled kid”. One possibility would be “избалованный”, which has, iiuc, the same logic behind it as “verwöhnt”. You treat (“баловать”) your child and that’s ok but if you do it too much it becomes “избалованный”. And that’s – according to Chat GPT – is the bulgarian “разглезен”.
The 2nd way is as i wrote to use the translation for “spoiled”, so we can literally say “spoiled kid” (“испорченный ребёнок”) in russian and that’s quite idiomatic i’d say. Of course both have slightly different vibes and the 2nd way is a bit stronger and has this “sorry, there’s nothing you can do about it” flavour.
Thank you for introducing us to this word! I’ve never heard it before. I think it would really apply to some colleagues of mine.
I have two examples from work. Our CFO said we can use old company branded clotting like he does to work in the garden. Who has a garden? Oh yes, CFOs. And during covid no one was taking vacation and our CEO encouraged everyone to “disconnect, go to your place in the county”. Of course we do Not all have second homes.
Wohlstandsverwahrlos.
LOL, yeah, this is out of touch. What is missing is a bit of a “jab” toward you. Like… “I don’t understand why you’re so stressed. Just go to weekend home and wind down.”
What comes to mind for me is “damaged moral compass” or even “lacking a moral compass”. Or perhaps just… oblivious? Thanks for the fun article!
“damaged moral compass” fits the behavior quite well. “obliviousness” is a part of it, but by itself it’s a bit too vague, I would say.
Amazing discussion about “The Karen Archetype”! It’s the first thing that came to mind whilst reading your aticle, and was so glad many others had the same thought and talked about it in the comments. Thank you guys!
I’ll have to check out the Know Your Meme website. I didn’t know something like that existed.
And yes, the Dubai chocolate trend IS DUMB and not enough people are saying that.
Honestly, this Dubai Chocolate stuff is the dumbest, laziest social media thing I have ever seen.
The chocolate looks soooo freaking cheap, with these color splashes. Who wants green and yellow chocolate? What’s appealing about this.
And then all these dumb influencers when they crack open the bar and eat it and pretend like “Hmmmmmmm, this is the best chocolate I have ever eaten” while you can see how they get diabetes live on cam.
And people really line up at Lidl for hours in the cold early morning just to buy it.
People must be REALLY bored with their lives.
I’ve been cracking up for 10 minutes straight at “while you can see how they get diabetes live on cam.“.
People are still going to do dumb stuff anyway, but thanks for making me laugh to the point of tearing up, man.
If I ever met you and wanted to get you a bar of chocolate, I’ll be sure to get you a NORMAL, DECENT one after this comment :)
wohlstandsverwahrlost is a good word. And an interesting discussion, thanks.
In England I think I would translate it as “privileged”. Not as in: “I was privileged to meet the real Doctor Who” but like this:
“Those privileged little darlings who park their 4by4s all over the pavement without a thought for anyone else.”
Could this be similar to the slang word “tone-deaf”?
There’s some overlap, but I do miss the word “tone deaf” in German, so “wohlstandsverwahrlost” doesn’t really fit the bill.
I feel well-educated as if I have C2 certificate in hands today after reading this :D
When started reading, my curious mind went “What about Schadenfreude and Zeitgeist then?” haha
I don’t like these all that much. They’re too mainstream :D. Though Schadenfreude is VERY useful.
Emanuel, see my comment below about the Karen meme, which caught on in the USA summer 2020 with a much more explicitly racist overtone than it has now. (Karen is now too often used to refer merely to an exquisitely self-absorbed person; tantrums are usually involved.)
But I have a question – while you don’t have to be wealthy to be wohlstandsverwahrlost isn’t there usually an element of economic obliviousness to the term? If not economic, then social class, which is usually a stand-in for economic differentiation? Land vs. Stadt? Ein sehr sehr interessantes Konzept!!
Honestly, I have been “with the Karen meme” since 2017 or so, and when that incident in summer 2020 happened the meme already felt WAY out of date for me. I never perceived any racist component in it during its (for me) active phase.
I’m not saying there isn’t one, but if there is, then that’s more of a reflection of the society where the “white Karen” correlation with “latent racism”.
Maybe the meme has changed, but I don’t think it should. Karens can come from anywhere and snap at anyone for anything. The ideal Karen archetype is actually not racist at all. Every waiter gets treated equally shitty. Having racism an integral part of the Karen archetype makes the archetype less valuable and explains.
Some Karens are racist, some racists are Karens. But not all Karens are racist and not all racists are Karens.
That’s my two cents :)
About your question:
Yes!! Obliviousness is definitely a part of it!!
The Wikipedia article traces the Karen idea to earlier pejorative labels used in the Black community for white women as early as the first half of the 19th century, but it’s true that Wikipedia is only as authoritative as its contributors are, and there are lots of other ideas. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_(slang). In liberal US urban communities, the Karen meme definitely has strong echoes of racism, though I agree it is definitely used to described obnoxious overly-entitled behavior in general, racist or otherwise. (This was an interesting deep dive!)
I can really recommend KnowYourMeme.com for this kind of stuff.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/karen
It’s really interesting that Karen has been around way before the internet was even a thing. But KnowYourMeme tends to trace the actual meme-lifecycles really well.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/karen
‘wohlstandsverwahrlost’
It will take at least 24 hours for me to pronounce, learn its usage and one month to imply it somewhere to flaw my vocabulary.
Advent calendar is a good series!
Superb discussion! thanks
Wahr
Hi Emanuel! Can we not translate it as “decadence” or is it not exactly the same thing?
There’s an overlap but they’re not the same. “wohlstandsverwahrlost” can also be a lower middle class person’s behavior when going through a slum in a different country and making some really out of touch remark in good faith.
I asked Claude.ai about how wohlstandverwahrlosung and “Karen” relate. The reply was pretty good: These concepts have some interesting contrasts and overlaps. Wohlstandsverwahrlosung is a German term that literally translates to “prosperity neglect” or “affluenza,” describing a form of social and behavioral decline that paradoxically stems from having too much material comfort. It often manifests as a lack of manners, consideration for others, and basic life skills despite (or because of) growing up with material abundance.
The “Karen” archetype, while also associated with privilege, is more specifically focused on entitled and demanding behavior, particularly when interacting with service workers or authority figures. A “Karen” is typically characterized by an excessive sense of self-importance and a readiness to demand special treatment or escalate minor inconveniences to authority figures.
While both concepts deal with negative behavioral patterns associated with privilege, Wohlstandsverwahrlosung is broader and more focused on general social decay and inability to function effectively, while “Karen” behavior is more specifically about entitlement and confrontational interactions with others. A person exhibiting Wohlstandsverwahrlosung might be socially inept or inconsiderate due to their privileged upbringing, but wouldn’t necessarily display the aggressive confrontational behavior associated with “Karen” behavior.
Worth noting that “Karen” has more recent origins in American popular culture, while Wohlstandsverwahrlosung has been discussed in German social discourse for decades, particularly in relation to child-rearing and social development.
OMG, YES!!!!!
The Karen! That is such a great example for how “Wohlstandsverwahrlosung” can look.
I also had to laugh at “the Karen archetype”. Maybe 100 years from now, it’ll be included in books about Jung and whatnot as an archetype that was “discovered” after his time.
At least in the USA, “Karen” also has a fairly explicit racist overtone (unless the Karen is Karening about po’ white trash, though “po’ white trash” is also a racist concept – the P.W.T. are no better than the nonwhites, in the eyes of those with that attitude) It began with the white woman calling the cops on a perfectly respectable black birdwatcher* in Central Park in 2020, and gained lots of traction during the George Floyd and BLM summer. But it is true that the Karen meme has become more diluted over time, and is now used for pure middle class/ignorant entitlement attitude. Wohlstandsverwahrlosung seems to convey the economic and class privilege/entitlement, without the racism… more á la Marie Antoinette than Karen.
Edit to add – it ACCELERATED with the Karen in NY’s Central Park in 2020; it began several years earlier. The Wikpedia entry for “Karen” gives a great background on the term.
The Karen I know is having the white young waitress get the manager because the waitress’ hair wasn’t held together well enough and allegedly touched the latte (it didn’t). Like… from my perspective, the racism angle was added later, and it makes the meme less funny and less useful, imo.
Kurz und knapp. Wow, your examples are…almost too vivid, lucid with personal insight. I think you need to find better friends :) Great day 4! Just one thing “or the apartment of a messy.” I think there is a word missing from the end. Bis morgen!
The closest to home are the vegan yoga influencers snorting cocaine and speed on the weekend. That’s just club culture over here pretty much. The other examples are things I see on Instagram mostly.
As for “messy”… actually now I think you call it “hoarder” but in German, we call a person who is compulsively collecting things and not cleaning their apartment a “messy”. I thought we’d taken in from English.
Morally Bankrupt?
Sort of, but that’s more about ethics and selling/forgetting your values. “wohlstandsverwahrlost” is more about being oblivious to your behavior within its context and the context of the world.
There’s a recently-coined American word that would seem to be an apt translation and is similarly awesome: Affluenza
It’s brilliant, right? Thanks for the great post!
LOL, that’s a play on “influenza” right? Love it! English is so creative with coming up with new words like that.
Now I’m curious when I’ll see “affluenza” used for the first time.
Could you say when you see behavior like I described that the person has a serious case of affluenza? Or how would you use it?
So it seems the word is not quite as recent as I thought. PBS used it in 1997 as the title of a documentary about consumerism. But the famous example (and where I first heard it) came in 2013 when a rich kid in Texas got incredibly drunk, drove at high speed through a neighborhood and ran over a bunch of people with his truck. His lawyer argued for leniency on the basis that he suffered from “affluenza” i.e. was so spoiled by his wealthy parents that he didn’t understand boundaries and was therefore not responsible for his actions. Sad to say it worked and he got probation.
To be honest, I haven’t heard or used the term since, so it’s not in common usage. And having revisited the story I think I am unlikely to use it in future, as it is entirely too cutesy for describing the consequence free lives of rich assholes.
I cannot believe this stood in court. Just anbelievable. Making up a new condition.
I guess I could just steal someone’s stuff then and argue that I was raised in communism and am thus unable to understand the concept of private property.
I think the real decisive factor here was some money or “Vitamin B” (colloquialism for “knowing someone important” in German) that made the difference, but the argument is a farce.
Anyway, still a great word.
I wondered if someone would bring up “affluenza.” I’ve only ever heard it in connection with that court case, and I have a suspicion it hasn’t really become more widespread mainly because it only ever became widely known for being accepted as an excuse for someone’s bad deeds.