And here we are talking about food that fills your belly. Fülle is a little easier since the word is related to full or fullness. So it makes sense that the German Hülle used to mean clothing because you cover and wrap yourself in clothes. Looking up Hülle generates an abundance of translations: cover, coating, sleeve, wrapper, case, envelope etc. In Hülle und Fülle – too hard to translate In German and in English, we use this idiom to express a great danger, in the physical but also the metaphorical sense. She is talking herself into trouble or danger (again with the reference of maybe losing your life). There is another expression in German: Sie redet sich um Kopf und Kragen. Just like in German it refers to the fact of being beheaded and literally losing your head (and part of your neck). The expression you would probably use in English is “risking one’s neck” or “risking life and limb”. So when somebody is risking Kopf und Kragen he is risking his head and neck. While Kragen literally means collar now, it used to mean neck. I found that in Southern Germany around 120 years ago people were still using Kegel to refer to children born out of wedlock but I don’t think this is still the case. Kegel is a bowling pin or skittle or a cone (among others) but the word in this context means extramarital or illegitimate children. They traveled to Rome with the whole family.īut what does this all have to do with bowling pins? While Germans know what this expression means most of them don’t know where it came from and what Kegel used to mean. Sie sind mit Kind und Kegel nach Rom gereist. Often it is just translated with “with the whole family”. The English equivalent would be “with everything but the kitchen sink”, “with kit and caboodle (or kaboodle)”, “with bags and baggage”, though all these expressions refer to things rather than people. Often it also includes the bags or luggage that all family members need when traveling. When somebody travels or arrives mit Kind und Kegel it means he or she is coming with the whole family or with everybody. Mit Kind und Kegel – With Child and Bowling Pin? So, let’s take a look at German Irreversible Word Pairs that were featured in my instagram stories. But then you start learning idiomatic expressions and everything falls apart. In the beginning it seems so easy: der Tisch is the table, essen means to eat, blau means blue (though there are meanings of blau that go beyond the color). German Irreversible Word PairsĪt some point when learning a foreign language you will realize that not every word and especially expression can be literally translated. You can see from the examples that often the words either start with the same letter or rhyme which makes them catchy and easy to remember. rough and tough, heart and soul, null and void rags to riches, naughty or nice, catch and releaseī. And I don’t think ‘spick’ or ‘span’ are being used by themselves, but always as one expression ‘spick and span.’ But correct me if I’m wrong. Very seldomly would we say ‘caboodle’ by itself, we come across it in the pair ‘the whole kit and caboodle’. In some cases one of the words has lost its meaning and/or use outside of the idiom. It’s Macaroni and Cheese, not Cheese and Macaroni.
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