Mein Gott!

Searching for something among some old documents, I stumbled across something else: a great selection of German compound nouns, such as:

  • Tausendsassa – literally “a thousand this and that”. The closest English equivalant would be jack of all trades
  • Reißverschlusssystem – the system of merging traffic as two lanes become one. Literally “zipper system”
  • Rechtschreibungsüberprüfungs¬programm – spell checker (very handy when you’re exploring compound nouns)
  • Vergangenheitsbewaeltigung means “overcoming the past”
  • Universitätsbibliotheksgarderoben¬schranknummerkartenanzeigelesegerät – the university library locker number card reader display
  • Suchmaschinenoptimierungsbeauftragte(r) – a web worker assigned to search engine optimisation