“Nonsense with Gravy”
Hello everyone,
day 10 of our Advent Calender and behind this door is something that you probably get to hear a fair amount of if you celebrate Christmas with your extended family.
Like… this odd cousin who tells you that he’s never been into this stuff but now he has seen this video on Youtube and the flat earth people actually have a point. Or the drunk uncle (also known as druncle) who claims he can crack a Brazil nut with his teeth, but refuses to show it because, as he puts it “He ain’t got nothin’ to prove.”
Or the 13 year old girl who says Greta is going to become president of the United States once she’s 18.
All this is nonsense, and the German word for that is
der Quatsch
Quatsch is the noun for the verb quatschen, which itself was likely an imitation of the noise you get when you step into mud with some force. A pretty good one, actually. It really does sound like that.
But yeah, already 400 years ago, people started using quatschen also in a sense of talking nonsense and that’s how Quatsch became what it is today.
- Viele denken, Einhörner sind niedliche, liebe Vegetarier – was für ein Quatsch.
- Many think unicorns are cute, loving vegetarians – what nonsense/bs.
- “Bist du sauer, dass ich zu spät bin?”
“Ach Quatsch, alles gut.” - “Are you angry that I am too late?”
“Nah, nonsense, it’s all good.”
- Wenn Maria müde ist, redet sie nur Quatsch.
- If Maria is tired, she’s only talking nonsense.
The verb quatschen itself is also still around. Actually, it’s super common in colloquial German. And interestingly, it has lost quite a bit of its negative overtone and instead became one of the most common colloquial words for to chat. Not in the sense of texting but in the sense of having a casual conversation with a friend.
- “Boah, wir haben uns so lange nicht gesehen ey.”
“Ja…. wir müssen uns unbedingt mal treffen und in Ruhe quatschen.” - “Wow, we haven’t seen each other in a while.”
“Yeah… we sooo have to chill and catch up.”
- Hey, ich wollte mit dir nochmal wegen dem Projekt quatschen, hast du kurz Zeit?
- Hey, I wanted to talk to you about the project again, do you have a minute?
- “Wie war dein Date?”
“Wir haben nur gequatscht, sonst nichts.” - “How was your date?”
“We just chatted, nothing more.”
Both words are incredibly common in colloquial German and I’m sure you’ll hear them. And if you are celebrating with Germans over the holidays and one of them talks some serious Quatsch, you could use the following idiom and casually ask:
- Äh, sorry, gibt es noch ein bisschen Quatsch mit Soße?
That’ll definitely stop them in their tracks :)
That’s it for today, folks.
As usual, if you have questions, just leave me a comment. Have a great day und bis morgen :)
Reviving the comments for this one since you linked it in the newest article .. just wanted to offer a better suggested translation on “meet in peace and catch up” – I think it might better be translated as “chill (together) and catch up”
True, changed it :)!
I think I put “in peace” because I wanted to mirror “in Ruhe”, but it does sound really awkward.
I don’t know if it is just me. But the “done” box is missing…
Yup, it was… I wasn’t decided on whether to have the calendar posts be markable. Then, I decided “yes” but set up a separate list, so you can see your progress on all the calendar posts ever. But I was inconsistent when actually posting. I fixed this one now. Let me know if you run into more missing ones :)
Silly 13 y/o, Greta will need to wait until she’s 35 to become US prez. She’ll also need to move there no later than age 21 to meet the 14-yr citizen requirement.
Ok Boomer.
.
.
.
.
(kidding :D)
Aber sie sind Vegetarier in der realen Welt Emanuel!
My father was German (he died) and he was used to exclaim “quatsch!” very often. I am from Chile and living in Sweden. No so few people cames and told him how good Hitler was, then I remmber this his poker face and a whisper expresion: quatsch
Does Swedish have a similar word to Quatsch by any chance?
Quatsch mit Soße!
How cool! :D
Cool and tasty :)
I remember my great-aunts using Quatsch for speaking with each other or a small group. They were second generation immigrants from Holland to America. Today’s calendar gave me the present of happy memories. Danke!
Freut mich :)
I think you mean “peace” not “piece” for translating Ruhe. A very Christmas-y mistake if you consider wishing people “Ruhe an Erde” and not “Stueck an Erde” :)
Thanks :). While we’re at it… I want a peace of cake on my plate for Christmas :D
Is it appropriate for an email? Like an exam task?
Example : Du hast ein Prüfung bestanden? Quatsch!
Not sure what you’re asking?
Quatsch is colloquial. The dialogue you wrote works fine, also in an email. It just depends who you send it to.
I meant like if someone is doing A2 prüfung and used it in the task.
It depends on the context of the text. If you’re writing an email to a friend as a task of an A2 prüfung then it’s fine. If you write a discussion in the prüfung then it’s not fine.
Wie eine süßsauere sosse ! Ich erwarte Morgen ,eine verlangärte davon , hinter eures Adventskalenders ! Salopp ausdrücke ich. . Nur ein Quatsch !
Haha :D…. zwei kleine Korrekturen:
man sagt “nur Quatsch”, ohne Artikel.
Und “ausdrücken” kommt mit Reflexiv.
– ich drücke mich aus.
– I express myself
Hi,
Not gonna talk about Paranut because others have already done it! And correcting typos on an Advent Calendar would be Quatsch, but this one I have to do: Calendar (always with a; I know you know this but you keep getting sidetracked). Anyhow, I love this Calendar or Calender or whatever you decide to call it!
Bis Morgen!
Ugh…. I know… that’s what happens when you prepare posts and then post them at midnight because you’ve been at work all day :D
The word “Quatsch” is awesome! Just like you wrote, it makes me think of the sound stepping in mud makes. Prefer it to “unterhalten sich” – it gives more of a feeling of “chatting”.
Have I mentioned how much I love this Advent Calendar?
I remember my aunt using that word all the time. Quatsch is a German word that does come automatically to me.
Nice :)
By the way, “Paranuss” in English is a “Brazil nut.”
Had to look up Paranuss to figure out what one was there! We say Brazil nut.