from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3943507.stm
…
More than 20,000 words, ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous, have been sent in by email and letter.
German, for example, has a word to describe that niggling melody you just cannot get out of your head - ‘Ohrwurm’, literally ‘earworm’.
‘Eisenbahnknoten’ is a ‘knot of rail-lines’ or, in other words, a railway junction.
And ‘Kulturbeutel’ - literally (body) care bag - is the toilet bag used to take toothbrush and shampoo .
…
Not to be confused with “Eisenbanknoten,” same word minus the H, which means “iron banknote.”
My favorite German word, who knows why, is “Stacheldraht.” It means “barbed wire.”
Stuart
stachel=thorn
I like “schadenfreude” (a malicious satisfaction in the misfortunes of others). That one word explains why all the “reality TV” crap (among other things) is so popular in the US.
Cheers,
John
Popular in the US? When I was recently in the UK, the latest “Big Brother” happenings were front page news. It probably was in France, too, but with all the naked women on the covers of their “periodicals”, it was difficult to be sure. But on TV it seemed like it was either music videos, talk shows, or reality shows. Oh, or naked women.
Just limiting my comment to the realm of my familiarity. I am, unfortunately, not widely traveled. 
John
I didn’t mean to correct what you said, but rather to add to it–I was both pleased and dismayed, in my very limited travel experience, to find that we Americans aren’t the only shallow/easily amused people on earth.
I generally find making my opinion known makes me feel very important. 
Weltschmerz.
Literally, “world-pain”: the sorrow one feels and accepts as one’s necessary portion in life; sentimental pessimism. (from Webster)
See my reality post in the prose competition. 
Before you get to Hubraum, Waldschrat, and Zwickmühle you haven’t lived. Not to mention Schotter, baumeln and Futterneid.
:roll:
So give, already.
No. You didn’t ask nicely enough.
Bitte?
No one could accuse them of lacking in humor. They have ways of making you laugh.
All right, all right.
Hubraum: cubic capacity, as of a motor in a car
Waldschrat=uncommon word for a scary monster living in the forest (Wald). Noone know what they look like, but they’re ugly.
Zwickmühle: No English equivalent. Catch 22 comes closest I guess. It refers to having to chose only between two evils, or the inability to extricate oneself from a bad situation. Derives from a board game in which players place or move pieces trying to get three in a row (called a “Mühle” or mill), which enables you to remove one of your opponent’s pieces.
Schotter: crushed rock, used on roads or walkways.
Baumeln: To dangle, as you would swinging from a tree limb (from Baum = tree).
Futterneid: lit. “fodder envy” that is, the jealous competition over food, esp. among siblings.
What I want to know is what in the blazes is fahrvergnugen???
To make omelettes, you have to break eggs. To make umlauts, you have to break open the charater map. At work, I have neither.
Fahrvergnügen: Joy of driving
German for “you can’t make an omlett without breaking eggs” is Wo gehobelt wird, da fallen Späne meaning “Where you use a plane, wood shavings will fall.”
Kühl, eh?
Did anybody mention Schadenfreude? I know the word is used in English with the same meaning: it’s the shame you feel at the relief you feel when you realize something bad happened to someone else.
Like, if you see an ambulance racing down the street towards granny’s house, and it stops next door. Phew, but, ew, someone else is in trouble.
I also like Africola’s slogan: Kein Vergnügen ohne Gefahr, which is sort of like No pain, no gain, along the lines of No pleasure without danger.
I mean, it’s a phrase with Fahrvergnügen in it, but not.
Stuart
Oh, crap, yeah, someone else already mentioned Schadenfreude.
Ach, so geht’s.
Stuart
Someone submitted the word “Mösenstövchen”. Although this is a new invention by the submitter, it describes quite neatly the effect a heated car seat has on a woman’s private parts… 
Stövchen: teapot warmer
Möse: go figure…
Bl**kflöte