German Of The Day: Gesichtskondom

That means face condom.

German

You know, face mask? I don’t make this up that German allows you to make this stuff up. It’s a popular national pastime.

Pandemic Inspires More Than 1,200 New German Words.

Like English, German also offers the possibility of combining of words, especially nouns. The resulting noun chains in English typically feature spaces or hyphens between the different elements, while German ones normally appear as one word. The German penchant for creating complex compound nouns has long been the stuff of comedy. Mark Twain devotes part of his essay on The Awful German Language to these “curiosities,” and many people are familiar with ones like “der Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän” (the Danube Steamship Navigation Company Captain).

 

German Of The Day: Trendwende

That means trend reversal. It goes like this: As soon as the numbers of Covid-19 infections clearly begin rising again – and that’s what they’re doing –  the head virologist what’s in charge announces this as great news. That is, he spins it as if the numbers are actually dropping.

Trend

That’s just how virologists work, I guess. If you ever doubted that nobody knows what the hell is going on with this pandemic here in Germany, doubt no more.

In Schottland habe man gesehen, dass der Impfstoff von AstraZeneca das Hospitalisierungsrisiko dramatisch senke. Die Rate sei um 94 Prozent zurückgegangen. „Das ist fantastisch“, sagte Wieler.

Infectious Number Variants Increasing Numbers More Infectiously

COVID numbers in Germany seem to have mutated and are now on the rise again. Thank goodness. They had been dropping for weeks.

School

Otherwise everybody would have to start earning a living again. I know, let’s compromise. We’ll send all the kids back to school.

Germany’s COVID infections rise again – The increase comes just as schools are scheduled to reopen. The rise has been driven by new, more-infectious variants of the coronavirus.

The Robert Koch Institute for infectious diseases reported 7,676 new cases on Sunday, up 1,562 from one week ago. The key seven-day incidence rate increased to 60.2 across the country, up from 57.7 a day earlier.

 

It’s Not That We Don’t Believe You

It’s just that we don’t believe you.

Merkel

And this in a country with a government that does everything right. How shocking or something.

A large majority of Germans do not believe that Angela Merkel’s government can offer every person willing to be vaccinated a Covid jab by September 21, as promised. According to a survey conducted by the YouGov opinion research institute on behalf of the German press agency DPA, only around one in four (26 percent) expect the target to be met. However, 57 percent do not expect this to happen. And 17 percent did not provide any information…

Some 19 percent see the main responsibility lies with her, 17 percent believe it lies with the European Union and only 11 percent blame the manufacturers of the vaccines.

But 33 percent say all three are equally to blame. And 7 percent see the main responsibility for none of the named. Meanwhile 12 percent did not provide any information.

 

German Of The Day: Flockdown

Flock means flake. Like snowflake. Get it?

Snow

Heavy snowstorm pounds Germany, upends travel – A snowstorm and strong winds pounded northern and western Germany on Sunday, forcing trains to cancel trips and leading to hundreds of vehicle crashes. Police said 28 people were injured on icy roads. Climate Change just ain’t what it used to be.

In related news (sort of): Too soon to end German lockdown, says Bavarian leader Soeder.

Deutschland im “Flockdown“: Verkehrchaos auf Autobahnen: “Lage ist katastrophal.”

German Of The Day: Erhöhtes Bewusstsein

That means having a higher level of consciousness. You know, like being woke, as in wokeness or wokery?

Wokery

Here’s an example: The very divisive president: Joe Biden has unleashed a wave of wokery in his first ten days that will enrage millions – as his supporters in Silicon Valley shut down dissent. Hmmm. Wasn’t Biden the one always proclaiming the need for unity and healing? Maybe I misunderstood what he was getting at.

Biden announced the purchase of an extra 200 million vaccinations. But those were already on the way as part of the contracts negotiated by Trump.

Similarly, the new administration let it be known that the President was planning to invoke a wartime measure – the Defense Production Act – to force companies to increase vaccine supply.

But again, Trump had already done that and industry sources told the New York Times that there was no scope to go any further.

There is a clear pattern that’s already emerging: a massive gulf between President Biden’s words and his actions…

In his first two days in office, Biden issued 17 executive orders, compared to Trump’s one and Obama’s two in the same timeframe.

Biden’s tally is now higher than any President in history at this point in their tenure. Moreover, his orders represent dramatic moves to the Left in major and controversial policy areas such as immigration, the environment and crime.

 

German Of The Day: Unter einer Decke stecken

Literally, to be under a blanket together. That is, to be in cahoots with, to collude.

Merkel

No connection between Germany’s state television (which most Germans refuse to call state television) and the German government here, folks. Move along. Nothing to see.

An independent journalist wanted to know about Angela Merkel’s routine secret meetings (Hintergrundgespräche – “background meetings”) with said state TV journalists and took it to court when Merkel refused to cooperate. The courts sided with the government and said the public did not need to know about these meetings in detail. The courts again. Sound familiar?

Does China Joe meet with CNN & Co. directly back home in the Banana Republic or does he have middlemen?

“Erst Flüchtlings-, dann Coronakrise: Erneut wird der Vorwurf erhoben, vielen Journalisten ginge es um Gesinnung statt um Aufklärung.” – “First the migrant crisis then the corona crisis: The allegation is being made once again that many journalists are more interested in political conviction than in journalistic clarification.

 

German Of The Day: Einspruch

That means objection. Or raise an objection. Or lodge an appeal.

Objection

A group of GOP senators led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, say they’ll object Wednesday to the certification of the presidential election results that favored Democrat Joe Biden over President Trump — unless there is an emergency 10-day audit of the results by an electoral commission.

Weitere Republikaner aus dem US-Senat wollen bei der anstehenden Zertifizierung der Präsidentschaftswahlergebnisse im Kongress Einspruch einlegen.

 

German Of The Day: Stadtschloss

That means “the city palace,” and in this case it’s referring the reconstructed Prussian palace that opened in Berlin yesterday.

Stadtschloss

And virtually no one came to the grand opening. That’s because it took place virtually, which is how virtually everything is taking place these days.

A reconstructed Prussian palace will open in Berlin on Wednesday as a museum complex housing colonial artifacts, just as debate is gathering pace around the return of treasures plundered from abroad.

The opening ceremony for the Humboldt Forum, which will house attractions including the Ethnological Museum of Berlin, will take place virtually due to restrictions to curb the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Launched in 2013, the huge renovation project in central Berlin has been plagued by delays, controversy and spiraling costs — much like the capital’s ill-fated new international airport that opened in October.

Critics have seized on the new building being home to a museum housing nearly 20,000 artifacts from Africa, Asia and Oceania, mostly from the former colonies.