It's just better in German

Amokläufer
Schleimhaut
Dudelsack

Poltergeist has also been well assimilated into the English language.
My personal favourites are: Doch! and Übergangsmöglichkeit

Weltschmerz

"Solidargemeinschaft" as an euphemism for Germany's overregulated socialist economy

I am a big fan of the word "möglichkeit" in general, and of course the ever-useful "Alles klar!"

I also admit to getting a chuckle out of Ausfahrt.

Frechheit, as in: so eine Frechheit! Zickig and überlegen. I always say I have to überlegen.

"I also admit to getting a chuckle out of Ausfahrt."

healthier than einfahrt

and is "auspoof" a crazy word for the exhaust of a car or what!

I would probably chuck the occasional "beziehungsweise" into an English sentence if it weren't such a mouthful. There is no equivalent in English.

(Even if the Germans do insist on not only mistranslating it with "respectively", but also trying to replicate the word order of the German idiom, thereby totally screwing up the syntax and rendering the sentence unintelligible. Ach ja, und it iss obligatory to abbreviate "respectively" to "resp." becausse in German ve abbreviate "beziehungsweise" to "bzw". Zis iss ze korrekt vay.)

Schadenfreude.

I hate all those fashionable words that people outside Germany use in English like angst.
Stau I rate this the most popular! Every one uses it in Germany.
Keller seems natural too
Steuer is creeping in too. Especially Mehrwertsteuer!
Biergarten Get there on the U-Bahn
Maß (of beer) from the Schänke

Feierabend, of course!

I don't like 'Handy' even in German, let alone in English.

One of the best German things, I like is referring to people with a 'the' before their name - e.g. "Wo ist die Claudia?" - so in English, "Where is the Claudia?"

Does 'beziehungsweise' roughly equate to 'with respect to'? - we often used to abbreviate that as 'w.r.t.' - although I hate abbreviations, TBH

Even better when they put a "du" before it, as in "Du, die Claudia, wo ist...?"

Guilty of many of the above and also...

Kaffee and Kuchen

Unwetter - as in "Mann, this Unwetter goes me slowly on the biscuits".

I also sometimes catch myself saying "Auaa" when I bang into something, or "Igitt" if something is unpleasant

I found myself using Apoteke this morning. I do like this word as well. Far better than Chemist.

I had been to the Doctors first but I would never use Artz in an English conversastion.

Let me get this straight, these are words that people are using in English to other people who live here right?

Cos if not and people are using a lot of these words back in the UK or USA, then you will just look like some kind of pseud.

I make a point of using such words and phrases to people in the UK.

Problem is bluedave, I do find myself doing it and having to correct myself. These words become my default.

OK I used Apotke when talking to a German today but I've done it when in the UK, I just then get a strange look and have to try and remember the English word.

Just compromise and say apothecary.

All the official offices such as Rathaus, Landratsamt, Ausländeramt, Standesamt usually stay in German when I'm speaking English.


Was in London recently and kept referring to the tube as the u-bahn - got a few blank stares...

Friend of mine says 'it gives' (es gibt) in English and talks about 'styles' of crisps - perhaps taking it a little too far, that.

"Fuchtel" Just like the sound of it, and don't use it. Pity that it's so difficult to work into everyday speech!

I love reading this thread. Has anyone mentioned Zeitgeist yet?

Nobody seems to have mentioned Autobahn yet. "There was a stau on the autobahn this morning!"

Geisterfahrer, Brilliant word for an idiot who drives on the wrong side of the Autobahn. You don't hear of this too often in the UK and when you do it's always an old person in a Skoda

Stau and Allershausen are linked in my mind. Perhaps you should chance your screen name to 15km Stau bei Allershausen?

Fahrfreude.

My two favorites: Schade and Aua!

Quatsch. Love how it sounds and use it with the -ing form (quatsching) when talking to my class about how they should not mess about. It's perfect for that purpose.

Did someone mention Geil yet? I like Schmuck

But Zeitgeist does not belong here. That is for pseuds outside of Germany!
As for official offices, I use Kreiverwaltungsreferat all of the time because it is so much easier to say than.. What do we call that back home? Doe we even have one?

Geil? "Hey that's fucking geil!" Yep! That works!

No, "beziehungsweise" doesn't mean "with respect to". An example of its use would be: "The ladies and gentlemen of Munich like to dress up in their Dirndln beziehungweise Lederhosen for the Oktoberfest". That implies that the ladies wear Dirndln and the gents wear Lederhosen (just in case there should be confusion about who wears what). There's also an implied "exclusive OR", i.e. you wear either a Dirndl or Lederhosen, but definitely not both. Though after a few hours in the beer tent, who knows?

The weirdest bit is that Germans who want to be really clever replace "beziehungsweise" with the germanified mistranslation "respektive" when speaking German, and think it makes them sound really cool.

'respektive' is the Swiss word for 'beziehungsweise'. The Swiss love using foreign words a lot more than the Germans do, eg 'goal' for 'Tor' etc. I find 'or' a good enough translation for both 'respektive' and 'beziehungsweise'.

Verarschen and Ledensmüde.

Probably my favourite German word, although I can't say I really use it when speaking English is Dudelsack. Sounds like what it is and is v. funny in an immature, schoolboy-humour way.

Kulanz
(I asked my colleague on Friday how it is spelled. I had heard it spoken but never seen it written and thought it must be spelled "Collanz")

I contantly use egal and Eselsbrücke.

Sesselfurzer ("chair farter"). A brilliant word for administrators/managers sitting in their office, doing rather nothing, but earning a lot of money for that.

"Sachbearbeiter" (oh, the irony - no Sach, and certainly not much Bearbeit-ing going on, whenever you call them...)

"Und Zwar..."

"Eierlegende Woll-Milch-Sau"

"Hallöchen" - much better than a coo-ey or a yoo-hoo

"Erholungsurlaub" (swoon, I'm ready to faint and need a holiday)

"Menschenskinder!"

Fingerspitzengefühl
anmotzen

Ahh...forgot to mention:

When "Sesselfurzer" sometimes leaves his office to tell an experienced worker how to do his job properly he is a "Klugscheißer" and when he is complaining because the experienced worker e.g. forgot to clean up his tea mug, the Sesselfurzer is a "Korinthenkacker".

Schwarzfahren. Can't think of a word for it in English.

"Fare dodging", but yes, it sounds so childish in English and so evil and sinister in German.

And any direct translation would probably be politically incorrect anyway.

What about 'Kostenvoranschlage' for a quote/estimate.
Sometimes theost can really hit you!

BCG

Correction: Sometimes the cost can really hit you.

BCG

You don't need to repost a correction, just hit the little edit button on the right.

Funkstille

Doll enzhammeraffensaugeil