When I was a child my mother worked at night to deliver newspapers. A lot of her colleagues were Turkish and German was only spoken when it was relevant for all or explicitly for my mother and step father.
I could often hear conversations held in Turkish interrupted with German words like “Steuererklärung” (tax declaration) or “Finanzamt” (German tax authority) but my personal highlight was when a Turkish outburst was followed by a “Du Schofseckl” which is a very local way to call someone names.
Just imagine someone talking to you in a foreign language and ends with a term your grandfather used to berate stupid neighbors.
The “Schof” is not drived from the German “Schaf” but from Yiddish. The older generations used it to describe someone who’s a useless idiot. E.g. when. someone fucks up something easy and obvious
But Yiddish is itself a Germanic language, and modern German dialects like Bavarian do have “Schof” = “Schaf” = “sheep”. Is there a better etymology for Schof here? And Seckl < Säckle < Sack would be perfect for scrotum too, and in high German you can call someone “du Sack” to mean they’re an idiot also.
I looked it up again:
It’s derived from the Yiddish word “Schofel” which itself is already an insult and closer to the German word “Lump” and the English “rascal”(?).
If you want a literal translation for Schofseckl I’d go for “sack full of useless rags”.
And Seckl < Säckle < Sack would be perfect for scrotum too
No, the meaning of “Sack” alone, without context is that of a soft, loosely shaped container. If “Sack” is used as a short version for “Hodensack” then yes, it can be used as an insult but that’s not the case here.
“Seckl” is more similar to the Bavarian/Austrian “Sackl” or “Packl” it’s just a bag.
Schofseckl is such a heavy dialect insult that my norther ass had to reread that word a couple of times to find out what it meant. Guess they integrated well, much better than I would because I’d refuse to on principle.
That’s fair, I learned to speak a more understandable version as I grew older. One of my half brothers and his father have a very heavy dialect. To the amusement of my sisters and me.
Their dialect is so strong that when the car broke down while on their way to family in Hessen, my step father couldn’t properly communicate with the mechanic. We still quote parts of the conversation. It was glorious.
Other than that I love Swabian life lessons like " ‘s läbe isch koin Schlotzer" or small odes to their treckers like "Isch d’ Berg au no so schteil, mein Fendt der schafft des alleweil!".
But I also prefer the way you people in the North talk. At least listening :D
My grandfathers spoke Platt with each other, very different versions, yet they understood eachother. My mother’s father I could understand as well, not my father’s though, he spoke a very dutch Platt.
I sadly don’t speak it even though my mother told both of them to teach me and my brother
My ex lived in Lörrach and I simply could not understand her familys dialect for years. We then went to visit her cousins in Frankfurt, and whaddayaknow, perfectly understand everything around me
When I was a child my mother worked at night to deliver newspapers. A lot of her colleagues were Turkish and German was only spoken when it was relevant for all or explicitly for my mother and step father.
I could often hear conversations held in Turkish interrupted with German words like “Steuererklärung” (tax declaration) or “Finanzamt” (German tax authority) but my personal highlight was when a Turkish outburst was followed by a “Du Schofseckl” which is a very local way to call someone names.
Just imagine someone talking to you in a foreign language and ends with a term your grandfather used to berate stupid neighbors.
If I’m parsing that correctly, it means “you sheep’s bag”, referring to its scrotum. 😀
The “Schof” is not drived from the German “Schaf” but from Yiddish. The older generations used it to describe someone who’s a useless idiot. E.g. when. someone fucks up something easy and obvious
But Yiddish is itself a Germanic language, and modern German dialects like Bavarian do have “Schof” = “Schaf” = “sheep”. Is there a better etymology for Schof here? And Seckl < Säckle < Sack would be perfect for scrotum too, and in high German you can call someone “du Sack” to mean they’re an idiot also.
I looked it up again:
It’s derived from the Yiddish word “Schofel” which itself is already an insult and closer to the German word “Lump” and the English “rascal”(?).
If you want a literal translation for Schofseckl I’d go for “sack full of useless rags”.
No, the meaning of “Sack” alone, without context is that of a soft, loosely shaped container. If “Sack” is used as a short version for “Hodensack” then yes, it can be used as an insult but that’s not the case here.
“Seckl” is more similar to the Bavarian/Austrian “Sackl” or “Packl” it’s just a bag.
Austrians say “Sackerl”. And they will always giggle if you say “Tüte” instead. From my experience 😂
Schofseckl is such a heavy dialect insult that my norther ass had to reread that word a couple of times to find out what it meant. Guess they integrated well, much better than I would because I’d refuse to on principle.
That’s fair, I learned to speak a more understandable version as I grew older. One of my half brothers and his father have a very heavy dialect. To the amusement of my sisters and me.
Their dialect is so strong that when the car broke down while on their way to family in Hessen, my step father couldn’t properly communicate with the mechanic. We still quote parts of the conversation. It was glorious.
Other than that I love Swabian life lessons like " ‘s läbe isch koin Schlotzer" or small odes to their treckers like "Isch d’ Berg au no so schteil, mein Fendt der schafft des alleweil!".
But I also prefer the way you people in the North talk. At least listening :D
My grandfathers spoke Platt with each other, very different versions, yet they understood eachother. My mother’s father I could understand as well, not my father’s though, he spoke a very dutch Platt.
I sadly don’t speak it even though my mother told both of them to teach me and my brother
My ex lived in Lörrach and I simply could not understand her familys dialect for years. We then went to visit her cousins in Frankfurt, and whaddayaknow, perfectly understand everything around me
Until someone starts a lengthy talk about Ebbelwoi