Use of English words and phrases by German youth

A friend of mine is currently working on the final project of her university degree. As a topic she has chosen to study the usage of English words by the German youth, in particular words that are often not properly understood. As part of the project she will draft a questionnaire to be filled out by several schools to measure how well these English words or phrases are understood, both in and out of context (that is: presented alon and within a sentence/paragraph).

As English-speakers living in German we see/hear this every day; in advertising slogans, the garbled speak of TV celebrities, magazines, etc. What I need your help with is compiling a long a list of possible of this sort of word/phrase.

Note: Words used solely in the working environment aren't really relevant, since the target group will be 12-15 year old kids. So words like "Mobbing" are perhaps less relevant, since I've only ever heard this used at work. Not that I know many 12 year olds myself, but you get the point. I'm talking about the sort English words that might frequently be used in teenage type magazines.

Recently there was also a Spiegel article on a related subject: "English Advertising slogans". These slogans belong in the list as long as it's the sort of product which a 12-15 yr old might look at. So Adidas' "Impossible is Nothing" is very applicable, or Coke's "Life Tastes Good".

Here's a few to start you off:

- floppen = to flop (ie. a film that fails at the box office)
- Gig = concert
- "Impossible is Nothing" ... Adidas slogan
- "Life Tastes Good" ... Coca Cola Slogan
- "O² can do" ... O² Slogan

What about the (in)famous "Handy"?

Good thinking, but Handy's an odd one out as a faux-English term which doesn't mean the same in English. I'm looking for English words used to mean (basically) the same thing in German but not necessarily understood by all.

I find those kinds of imported words to be the most interesting, actually - words "not properly understood" (as mentioned in your first post) and therefore improperly used in the receiving country (be it Germany, France or anywhere else).

Checken.

To look at the girls at a party: "Mädels abchecken"

I've also heard it in terms of a moving activity that has parallels with the terms in English of Check In and Check out:
"Kurzmal in die kneipe hinchecken", would be to go in the pub for a short while.

Just watch MTV for an afternoon. Every other word is kinda English.

"chillen" = to chill out

abgefuckt as well.

"Mobbing" is definitely a word known to and sometimes used by 12 - 15 year olds, Haggis Junior did a project on mobbing at school last year.
"Heavy" is a good one.
Teacher: "So, Klasse, ihr lernt jetzt Goethes 'Der Zauberlehrling' auswendig."
Klasse: "Jetzt wird's aber heavy!"

Good idea actualy although for that target market Viva is better. She should also by a few magazines relative to the age group as well. All of which I presume she has already done.

my german teacher once told me he 'gedumped' his kid off at school

Yup, she's doing all that as well. I just had a scan through "Bravo" myself (this is more interesting that actual work) and was amazed at how many I found (I was also sidetracked by interesting articles about orgasms and weed ):

Fashion: Lifestyle, Beauty
General: Friends, Fun, Insider, Gadget, Power, Facts, Gossip, Teamwork
Music: Song, Soundtrack
Films: Clip, Action, Blockbuster, Shootingstar, Dealer, Undercover, Hero

I will ask Haggis Junior to keep her ears pricked and report on Anglicisms among the 15 - 17 crowd.

COOL (das ist cool, coole typ)
Chillen, Chillig
Relaxen
Dancen
Grooven/Groovig
abspacen (don't even know what it means)
chatten
.. I'll find more (just have to listen to my daughter)

downloaden
updaten
patchen

Rippen - to rip (cd/dvd)
gecrasht od. gecräscht - to crash
gedoped - doped
relaxen - relax
shoppen - to shop
event
happy
airbag
mini job
single
service
cash

try Bravo-Website should be a good source.

ausgeflippt

abgespaced is the same as weggebeamt - usually involves alcohol or weed, "Man ich war totally abgespaced nach nur 1 Mass".

or "bei dem Lied war ich total wegebeamt"

ausgepowered is another one I hear all the time.

strange. Der Film war cool, aber ein bißchen strange.

This is golddust. So far:

abfucken, abspacen, Action, airbag, beamen, Beauty, Blockbuster, cash, chatten, checken, chillen, Clip, cool, dancen, Dealer, downloaden, dumpen, easy, event, Facts, floppen, Friends, Fun, Gadget, gecrasht, gedoped, Gig, Gossip, grooven/groovig, happy, Heavy, Hero, Insider, job, Lifestyle, mini, managen, Mobbing, patchen, Power, relaxen, relaxen, rippen, service, Shootingstar, shoppen, single, Song, Soundtrack, Strange, Teamwork, texten, Undercover, updaten

EDIT: Sorry Kay

+ cool (from post #14)

gemanaged

What about "Top", as in "Top zwanzig", would that be one of them or does the word actually exist in German?

texted, as in "Ich habe ihm es durchgetexted"

Oh and "easy" of course - ois (alles) easy...

Gamen - ich game, du gamst, er/sie/es gamt.
Stylen / (durch)gestylt.

If we are talking slogans, the worst has to be Henkel's "A Brand like a Friend" - Puke

That is pretty bad.
And think, someone was paid tens of thousands of yoyos to think that up.

Don't know whether it exactly fits the brief, but there's also taff, which most modern Germans use to mean tough (with positive overtones), a shift of meaning from its original derivation (the Yiddish for good).

I hear 'sorry' sometimes. I think it's widely understood.

Also used as a noun and pronounced "hee-vee", meaning bodyguard or bouncer.

Gag - meaning practical joke, and pronounced "geck".

Downgeloadet is my favourite German word!!
Im a student here and find it so lustig when Germans use english(y) words!!
Another is "gechillet"
I actually have a list of such words somewhere, i can find them if they wud help!!
Viel Spass!!

Somebody planning to rob a bank?