“Console“

Hallo ihr lieben

welcome back to our EPIC calendar.
And today, you might have a chance to win a console.
“OMG, the PLAYSTATION 5?!?!?”
Yes, the very same. And you can win it. I just don’t know where. Not here, that’s for sure.
But I do have something for you (besides really bad puns). Something that comes in handy after yet another super hard hard quiz like the one of yesterday – a bit of consolation.
Or in German:

der Trost

Looks an awful lot like trust, and the two are indeed related. Back a few hundred years, Trost could still be a general sense of trust in the future. But then it shifted toward an idea of “giving someone some confidence” and toward cheering up and became solace. 

Oh and by the way, the words to console and solace actually go back to Ancient Greek word the soothingly ancient Indo-European root selh which was about reconciliation. And without there being any evidence, I’ll go ahead and say that there MIGHT be a connection to the equally ancient root sol, which was about the idea of whole. That’s where solid and consolidate come from and also the noun console, that I am milking for puns today. Again… there’s no evidence for there being a connection.But it would make a LOT of sense. I mean, consoling someone does kind of mean consolidating them, putting them back together.
Anyway, time for some examples..

• “Sei nicht traurig, Thomas.”
  “Ich brauche keinen Trost. Ich brauche eine Console.”
• “Don’t be sad, Thomas.”
  “I don’t need consolation, I need a console.”

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• Katzenvideos können in schweren Zeiten Trost spenden. (fixed expression)
• Cat videos can give solace in hard times.
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• Thomas kauft sich einen teuren Whisky – als Trostpflaster.
• Thomas buys himself an expensive Whisky – as a consolation.
  Lit.: “solace patch/plaster”
  

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And of course we also need to mention the verb trösten, which means to cönsö… I mean console.

• Maria hat Thomas getröstet.
• Maria consoled Thomas.
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And there’s actually also a prefix version of it – vertrösten. And this has shifted in meaning somewhat because it’s basically what I do to with my interns about paying them … telling them that it’ll happen soon-ish. This use is based on the away-idea of ver- … you console someone away.

• Emanuel vertröstet seine Praktikanten.
• Emanuel staves off/puts off his interns.
  (I think to stave of is the English translation, but I took that straight from the dictionary, so I’m not sure)
  

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I do provide free team beer, though, as some Trost. And I’ll take one of those right now, so … Prost :).
That’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day and see you tomorrow.