Whassup everyone,
it’s yo’ boy Emanuel, back at it with another GWD.
Hollaaaa!
This time, we’ll check out the meaning of
die Klammer
And the best way to describe the essence of Klammer is this:
holding something (by putting pressure on it) from two (opposite) sides
But what’s describing something when you can depict it. Behold:
( )
This is awesome because not only is it literally is a pair of Klammern but it also works as an icon for the entire Klammer-crew… and man, they roll deep.
So, let’s hustle some German…
(hmmm… I’m not sure if me talking like this really will attract younger listeners, but we’ll see…)
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Great article, a cool visual chart, and so much going on here! BTW .. your “it’s yo’ boy Emanuel,” lead-in? I can’t count the times I’ve said, “Let’s see what ‘mah boy Emanuel’ has to say about this.” Nobody does it better.
Lol, this comment made me smile :)
Im Spanischunterricht habe ich mal meine Hand mit Sekundenkleber an einen Laptop geklebt.
Hahaha, warum das denn?? Und wie hast du die wieder abgekriegt?
Ich mache impulsiv jeden lustigen Gedanken, der mir in den Sinn kommt (ich habe ADHS). Ich hab sie wieder abgekriegt mit viel Wasser, Geduld, und Mühe. Meine Spanischlehrerin hat einen Lachanfall gekriegt, und sie erzählt ihren Schülern heute noch davon.
Oh wow, ein bisschen wie “Aktions-Tourette” :).
Ich habe manchmal Lust, Leuten, die auf ihr Handy gucken, ihr Handy aus der Hand zu schlagen. Zum Glück mache ich das nicht :D
Hallo Emanuel,
First, I am ever grateful to you for creating such a wonderful blog and such innovative learning techniques. I have studied German language as a major in university. However, Its my first to learn these “Hacks”.
Thank you for your kind reply & for making me a part of this genuine generosity that you and the rest of the German learning community offers (one year free membership). May these good deeds be everlasting and I on my behalf will make sure that your blog gains the popularity it deserves.
Most appreciated
Rihab
I’ve also seen “Knödel” as dumpling – is this just another word for dumpling or is it also somehow related to “Kloß”?
No, I think there’s a difference. I think, “Kloß” can be made from meat, while “Knödel” can’t be but I don’t like dumplings (of any kind) so I can’t really help with which is which :)
Schön! Aber ich verstehe nicht, wieso “Thomas macht Klettern Spaß” nicht “Thomas makes climbing fun” bedeutet? Könntest du, bitte, das erklären? :)
Gute Frage. Die allgemeine Formulierung ist so:
– Etwas (eine Sache) macht jemandem Spaß.
– Something is fun for someone.
Das “etwas” ist Klettern und die Person (someone) ist Thomas. Also:
– Klettern macht Thomas Spaß.
Und jetzt habe ich einfach die Wortstellung geändert.
– Thomas macht Klettern Spaß.
Das hat keinen Einfluß auf den Sinn.
“someone makes something fun”… diese Formulierung gibt es in Deutsch nicht so direkt.
Sag mir Bescheid, ob das hilft :)
I’m very grateful for the membes who payed a little more to help others to learn German, thank you German learning community!
Shout out to the German learning community who has sponsored me. Thanks a lot.
Very cool! Vielen Dank. One question–is the translation for “Maria findet, dass Thomas klammert” backwards? It says “Thomas finds that Maria is too clingy” but the German looks to me like Maria is finding Thomas too clingy.
Yes, they’re not speaking the same language when it comes to that topic ;)
BUt I guess I should actually change it back to normal. I wasn’t really thinking about how confusing that might be to a learner.
Oh what a wonderful article! Soooo much etymology :-) After the mentioned “Klammeraffe” I really want to play this old boardgame again:
Oh, I think I know that :). I don’t know the rules or anything but that image looks familiar.
Cool one!
Just a couple little notes…
“Heftklammern,” at least in American English, are just “staples” – I’ve never heard of a “stapler pin.” For “ausklammern,” I’m trying to think of a better idiom than just “exclude [from discussion]”; in AE, when you “table” something in a meeting, you’re postponing discussion on it, usually indefinitely, so that might fit in the example. (As I understand it, in BE “tabling” something means exactly the opposite, which I find fascinating.)
In the example with Maria’s clutch, you forgot to include “under her arm” in the English. :) Also, Thomas can’t pull *off* a pull-…. uh… -up. (Just a typo, but potentially irritierend.)
For “erklimmen,” “to scale” could fit. I don’t know if it’s exactly “epic,” but it does at least sound like managing to climb up something that’s hard to climb.
Curious about “bur” – that looks like it’s the older standard spelling, but I’d always spell it “burr.” Is “bur” still current in BE? Anybody?
That *gel- IE root pops up in English via Latin in the word stem “glom” – you see it in “conglomerate,” “agglomeration.” Not exactly everyday words, but you’ll also sometimes come across the slang “glom onto something,” which can mean “stick to” or “take, steal.”
And then there’s another one via Hebrew that I imagine must come from *gel- too, known in both English and German: golem, from Hebrew גולם meaning something like “unformed substance, raw material” – and of course, THE Golem was an animated not-quite-human clay figure. (Paul Wegener’s 1920 UFA film is pretty cool, by the way.)
And here I thought “glom onto something,” was a phrase my mother made up! She was always doing that.
That’s really interesting, connecting it to “golem”. Here’s what I found from Online Etymology Dictionary- golem (n.) “artificial man, automaton,” 1897, from Hebrew golem [Psalms cxxxix.16] “shapeless mass, embryo,” from galam “he wrapped up, folded.” So it’s still not clear if it came from the same source as the Latin root.
Thanks for all the corrections :).
As for “golem”… it is really compelling to connect it to the *gel-root but as far as I know, Hebrew is not related to the Indo-European languages. So this might be really just a coincidence.
And while we’re at uncertain connections… in an earlier draft, I had the word “gluts” as another member of the family. I actually even had it in my little ( )-image. I mean… a gluteus is a big lump of muscle and a butt does look like this ( ).
And I think I did read somewhere that it is related, because I usually don’t mention relations for which I am not able to find at least one reference. But I wasn’t able to dig it up.
“gluts” comes from Ancient Greek Glouteus (or similar) and meant “buttocks” but that’s where it stops.
So if someone knows anything about that, please share :)
Why’s everybody getting hung up on trivial details like “is this word actually from an Indo-European language”? Erbsenzähler, the lot of you…
Sure, it’s probably a coincidence, but there are a few little similarities in Hebrew to IE roots that make you wonder. There’s ארץ ‘eretz for “earth”/”Erde,” and מות mawet for “death” doesn’t seem crazily far off from the “mort-” root via Latin.
I don’t know any more than you do about the etymology of “gluteus,” but I choose to believe this word family includes butts.
XD… yeah, who is Science to tell us what’s related and what isn’t. You’re right. I’ll look it up in my gut next time ;)
Hi Emanuel
Thanks for another article. I’m able to read increasing amounts of German each time:-)
Just a couple of translations that could be improved slightly:
die Wäscheklammer – the clothes peg
die Heftklammer – the staple
Tschüss!
Hooray for your progress :). And thanks for the corrections!
“Clothes peg” must be regional, maybe British – “clothespin” (either one or two words) is the only term I’d use for it.
“Der Manager klammert die Kaffeeproblematik beim Meeting aus, um nicht wieder die Polizei rufen zu müssen.” Ich hätte gern die Kaffeeproblematik gesehen, die die Polizei beteiligt.
In dem Satz “Meine Tochter hat die Finger meiner Sohn in dem Türpfosten eingeklemmt.” wo steht SICH? Er hat die Finger nicht selbst eingeklemmt.
Dieses Wort Familie klingt mir komisch!
Danke sehr, Emanuel.
Die Diskussionen über Kaffee sind dort immer sehr erhitzt (heated) :).
In deinem Beispiel mit “einklemmen” brauchst du technisch gesehen kein “sich”
– Meine Tochter hat die Finger meines Sohnes in der Tür eingeklemmt.
(Türpfosten allein ist nicht genug zum “Einklemmen”. Man braucht “Tür” als Gesamtheit, also Pfosten und die eigentliche Tür)
Aber der Satz klingt ein bisschen so, als ob deine Tochter das mit Absicht gemacht hat.
Ich glaube man würde das dann genauer beschreiben. Aber vielleicht sagt man das auch, keine Ahnung.
Danke sehr! Ich schätze viel die Rückmeldung.
“Aber der Satz klingt ein bisschen so, als ob deine Tochter das mit Absicht gemacht hat.” Ha! Es klingt beide auch auf English. Man braucht Kontext. (Sie hat das nicht mit Absicht gemacht, aber sie wusste nicht, warum er schrie, und warum die Tür nicht schließen würde. Sie waren Teenager, und es gab keinen Schaden. Heute ist es lustig….) :-)