We’ve all done this before: The more you try to fix something, the worse it actually gets. “To make something worse by trying to improve it.” All in all, I think using stacks of cheese as a form of measurement should come back. Most of my meals need to have this requirement, but this expression is only somewhat related to food: a Dreikäsehoch is what you call a small child who is only as tall as three wheels of cheese stacked on top of each other. The expression can also refer to someone’s who’s stingy and doesn’t want to spend any money on anything. This is the nitpicker who is always trying to make everything perfect down to the tiniest of peas: Erbsen means “peas” and Zähler means “tally.” So, an Erbsenzähler is a person who literally counts their peas. “Someone who is obsessed with details and a bit of a control freak.”

I think this is pretty self explanatory, and anyone who’s on your bad list can be labeled as such. People who throw snowballs without gloves are pretty hardcore and should therefore be feared, right? That’s exactly the opposite of a Handschuhschneeballwerfer who is, pardon my French, a wimp. Most people tend to throw snowballs with gloves on. Oh, how I was wrong: an Ohrwurm is what happens when you get a song stuck in your head, and you (have to) keep singing it over and over again. The first time I heard this, I thought my friend had an actual worm in his ear that he probably caught during one of his latest backpacking trips. Now, in English, we would probably just say “party time” or “home alone,” but sturmfrei takes it to the next level: it’s basically equivalent to the saying, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” 2.

“When your parents are away, and you have the whole house to yourself.”

Even though that sounds like a pain, it’s actually refreshing to be able to explain an emotion or situation on a deeper level. Another struggle with learning German in Germany is that there are several words that have no actual English equivalent or proper translation. Firstly, the grammar is – uhm – challenging. I recently moved to the German-speaking part of Switzerland, and as a result, I’ve been trying to pick up German, which is a tricky endeavor.

Long german words in english