Word of the Month: Schnapsidee

I figure, after what we went through with Sandy, a little lightheartedness is in order. Schnaps (one "p"!) is any hard liquor, and an Idee is an idea. Put the two together and you have an idea that could have originated only in an inebriated brain. It's a bad idea, but one of the less consequential kind: Trying to potty-train your cat may be a Schnapsidee, the invasion of Iraq was not—it was something much worse.

Word of the Month: Index

Word of the month: Schnapsdrossel

Word of the Month: Index

Another addition to the KrautBlog aviary: Schnaps (one p!) should be known to English speakers—it's a generic term for any hard liquor; a Drossel is a thrush; and Schnapsdrossel is a colloquial moniker for a boozer. I do not know how the term originated, but it remains a fact, in Germany and elsewhere, that alcohol leads some people to song.*

*Addendum: I learned today (3/14/2012) that the Drossel in Schnapsdrossel has nothing to do with birds. It's an old name for "throat", which survives in modern German only in the verb erdrosseln (to strangle)—must have the same Germanic root as "throttle". So, a Schnapsdrossel is really a throat through which liquor flows freely.

[Source: Wild Things in the German Language: Kindle version | iBook version]