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National Dictionary Day: German

Earlier today we introduced you to some of the words you can learn in the French section of Oxford Language Dictionaries Online, which are freely available through the 21st. But perhaps French isn’t your thing. Well, how about German? Take the quiz below to see how much you know and if you get stuck turn to OLDO for help. Be sure to check back this afternoon for me Dictionary Day fun from OLDO!

Question 1: Your German friend tells you in conversation, “Das ist nicht mein Bier.” But you’re not drinking beer! What does he mean?

Question 2: English speakers say “kill two birds with one stone”. What do German speakers say?

Question 3: If a German offers you Himmel und Erde, what should you expect?

Question 4: English speakers say “it’s no picnic”, but how would you say this in German?

Question 5: What do Germans see instead of “pink elephants”?

Answers

Question 1: The phrase means “That’s not my business” or “That’s nothing to do with me.” You can find this out through typing bier or the phrase das ist nicht mein Bier into G-E.

Question 2: Zwei Fliegen mit einer Klappe schlagen, which literally means “to hit two flies in one go”. You can find this out by typing the phrase kill two birds with one stone into E-G.

Question 3: : This literally means “Heaven and Earth”, it is a dish of puréed potato and apple with fried blood sausage and liver sausage, which they you can find out on typing Himmel und Erde into G-E.

Question 4: : Kein Zuckerlecken od. Honig[sch]lecken sein, which literally means “to not be like licking sugar or licking honey”. You can find this by typing picnic into E-G.

Question 5: weiße Mäuse or white mice. Users can find this out by typing pink elephants into E-G.

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