Occasional musings, Geistesblitze, photos, drawings etc. by a "resident alien", who has landed on American soil from a far-away planet called "Germany".

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Word of the Month: Der Kummerspeck

We encountered Kummer (sorrow, grief, anxiety) already in Liebeskummer, our word of the month for December 2009. Speck is the fatty tissue people or animals may carry on their bodies.* Kummerspeck, then, is the stuff that grows visibly around the midriff of people who overeat out of anxiety or grief.


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*It may be also a byproduct of the slaughtering of hogs, eaten as such or used to flavor dishes; but that's not the meaning in the present context.

3 comments:

Miriam brown said...

Sehr komisch. A friend once referred to an incipient spare tire as nervous fat. He did not speak German, BTW.

Ulrich said...

@Miriam: Your friend certainly got the idea!

avidreader said...

There was a Doctor Who episode about this malaise!
Thank you again, Ulrich, for the addition to your dictionary. And your cartoons are so good that the definitions become a bonus.