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Ich finde „verschlimmbessern“ richtig gut

In Italian we refer to that kind of face as "faccia da schiaffi" (face for slaps), more or less same meaning as in German, but with an undertone of "insolent person who thinks to be right about everything, or who is wrong and doesn't care about it and does the wrong thing without a care in the world, and in your face"

Another great word that Germans have for "Ebsenzähler" is "Korinthenkacker". I laugh at the Kopfkino every time I hear it.

For "Erbsenzähler": A person were EVERYTHING (really EVERYTHING) counts/matters.

Kuddelmuddel is a funny word for us Germans too. We don't use it in very serious situations. Merry christmas to you and your lovely family!

Es ist schön zu erfahren, wie von "aussen" auf die deutsche Sprache geschaut, wie sie erlebt wird. Ich fühle mich immer wieder erinnert, wie besonders die Deutsche Sprache ist. Man sollte sie nicht weiter versaubeuteln.

Most important: Freibiergesicht. It is somebody, who is always in the first row, when someone else pays for a round or hosting a party, but (s)he is never there when it's their turn.

Had so much fun watching! And yes, I would say Erbsenzähler is pretty similar to nitpicker. Did you know, that there is a similarly used word in German which sounds even more funny? It's "Korinthenkacker", which is depicting someone who is even more excessive than an Erbsenzähler. And Kuddelmuddel by the way is similar to the also funny word "Schlamassel" (which originally stems from the Yiddish language), maybe with the differentiation that Kuddelmuddel refers more to something hopelessly intertwined (like a very messed up ball of wool) while Schlamassel comes with the connotation of something being real messy, muddled and muddied. By the way, a word that I found in English that just sounds and feels great, yet has no German equivalent is "gorgeous".

"Kuddelmuddel", whose origin is not exactly clear, is one of the many beautiful onomatopoeic words. Similar in meaning is "Tohuwabohu", a loan word from Hebrew that describes an absolute mess or utter confusion.

I don't know why English speaking folks like the word Backpfeifengesicht so much - I hardly ever hear it and never use it myself. Schnapsidee: okay, the origin of the word is clear, but most people just use it for a bad idea. Pantoffelheld.. no, I don't use that either, and Erbsenzähler is just the most harmless of several words with the same meaning, like Korinthenkacker, Tüpferlscheißer.. Compared to those, Erbsenzähler is very polite. 😄 But Kuddelmuddel is a nice word for Durcheinander.

I myself am a woman that has both parents that comes from Germany and they married and had children and.raised them in Australia and much you talk about I witnessed or heard my parents talk about

I’ve heard pea counter (also bean counter) in US English. This person might be an accountant, or someone quite naturally inclined to the requirements of that profession.

great selection 🙂

Backpfeifengesicht: I haven't heard/read of that expression until a few years ago. It's possibly a word which is more typical for regions north of Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg. We're using different words for that. Schnappsidee: the idea doesn't have to be completely stupid if it's just sufficiently weird or just inappropriate. However, use it with a bit of caution. Eg. describing an idea of a superior (boss, professor, ) a Schnappsidee - depending on the situation - might require a pretty good relation with him. Pantoffelheld: generally a husband who's trying to please his wife as best as he can and maybe in a possibly excessive way. Using that term is particularly funny if he's claiming to be master of the house/home. Kuddelmuddel: that's a nice example of a pseudo-word which is descriptive by the way it sounds. If you try to speak it quickly you'd could fail articulating it. Quite often it's used in a more funny way or context to describe a chaotic kind of order, a little mess, disorder, confusion. It can be applied to the state of eg. a room or of a desk, etc. And it can be used figuratively for example for a speech, a lecture, or an answer to a question eg. if it's hard to follow or if it's hardly making sense. Another example of a pseudo-word with a descriptive sound is Schabernack meaning a prank or making fun of s.o. or s.th. And if someone remains pretty unclear about his opinion or about what he means then his statements are wischiwaschi (blurred). I've called them pseudo-words because they can't be derived from the meaning of eg. a part of it. Mind that you'll probably find Kuddelmuddel and Schabernack in a dictionary. Trying Kuddelmuddel on www.leo.org has delivered "hodgepodge". And Schabernack has been translated as practical joke, hoax or joke. Erbsenzähler : literally pea counter but I've heard and read the term bean counter in English broadcasts, comedies and conversations which seems to be really close. An annoying perfectionist. A "Kümmelspalter" - a caraway splitter - is quite the same kind of person.

Gut erklärt 😊

Sehr unterhaltsames Video! Frohes Fest! :)

That was a good one😊

It´s more of a phrase than just a word, but I realy love that onef and use it quite often: "he can hear the grass growing" 😊

Best Wishes to you and your family!

for me a 'Pantoffelheld' is also a person who would tell great stories about what he would do in special situations, and be the first one who is disappeared in such a case

It’s translatable, but in German this word has magical power: doch 😝

Merry Christmas and Frohoe weinhaten

Nitpicker is really quite close. Love your accent!

The swiss version of Kuddelmuddel is even better. We say "Chrüsimüsi" 😂

You have to love a language that has words that describe things like Klabusterbeeren!

Kuddelmuddel to me is more about a real state of something not so much of a personal situation. E.g. a lot of junk in a basement with no order. Or a lot of different paperwork just in one heap. Maybe some family relations also qualify as Kuddelmuddel.

An erbsenzahler is the same as an Ameisenficker in our region.. Great video again Antoinette and hope you'll have a great christmas!

8:00 There is the U.S. English bean counter, which is similar to the pea counter. But Germans can even improve upon that. Someone once called me königlich-sächsischer Grashalmzähler - Royal Saxon grass leaf counter.

@Antoinette_Emily, I ask you, don't constantly doubt your pronunciation! Your pronunciation is really good. And that your own child accuses you of your "weird" pronunciation, as you mentioned in a former video (as i can remember) - well, criticism always comes more easily from one's own family. Therefore, let it be said that you don't need to have any doubts about your pronunciation at all, because it's simply good. Please understand this as encouragement, not to constantly doubt your pronunciation. 😊 Mach weiter so - tolle Videos im Übrigen! Mach bitte nochmal ein Video auf Deutsch, wenn du magst. 👍ThumbsUp👍 & 👏HandClap 👏

Great examples: Erbsenzähler is really equivalent to 'bean-counter', which I have heard quite a bit all over the US. I was not aware that it is a US specific expression only, or maybe it is not, not sure. Now, whether it is just a casual reference to the accounting profession, or whether it is more broadly and slightly derogatively used as 'nitpicker', will depend a bit on the context and how it is phrased. True for both our languages. Kuddelmuddel sounds quite cute to us too, and it is a great example for expressions where German is much more gentil than English: English has the rather rude expression of clusterf***, yet the German expression is quite harmless, does not swear at all, just expresses the messed up, tangled up situation. We actually have a few other words to describe that situation, apparently we have a significant need for such expressions in our lives. There is: Wirrwarr, Durcheinander, Tohuwabohu, Paragraphenjungel, Affenzirkus....all depending on the Situation or kind of chaos that you are trying to talk about. Backpfeifengesicht is used both for kids as well as certain adults, and literally refers to cheeks that are slightly puffed up, in order to feign an innocent face, when really there is much more going on. In kids, you find the typical kid that grins at you, well knowing that they are guilty, but you have not quite sorted out yet, what they have done wrong or what they should be in trouble for, and the slightly sly grin gives away that you must have missed something. i.e. the boy that pulls his sister's hair, the girl starts crying, but the boy just pretends to look totally innocent, like he has no idea why she is crying. In the US, i.e. Tucker Carlson was somebody on evening TV, who had what we would call this typical 'Backpfeifengesicht'. Pretending to look totally innocent, while asking questions that totally lead his audience wherever he wanted them to go. Just one example, there are of course many.

Backpfeifengesicht habe ich noch nie gehört, aber man lernt ja nie aus. Fröhliche Weihnachten!

You don't have to be drunk to come up with a Schnapsidee

I think, "Kuddelmuddel" can be translated perfectly into English and actually turns out to be my favourite English word: "kerfuffle", right?

Backpfeifengesicht is some local word, I have never heard it.

Another word without english equivalent: Vereinsmaier (+AssociationAsshole, ClubBastard) Hi from Hastings

Schweinchenrosa ist auch schön.

Pantoffelheld is a Dutch word too.

Maybe it has bee said before, I just want to say: there is the phrase "der steht unter dem Pantoffel seiner Frau" - and I think the Pantoffelheld is derived from that (because it means the wife wears the pants). It is also related to a "Maulheld" which is someone who talks tough but doesn't dare acting that way. A "Mouth Hero". Kuddelmuddel certainly IS a funny word! Even for me as a German. Where I live, there is a slightly ... "dirty" regional word that we use for the Erbsenzähler: "I-tüpfeles-scheißer" (I-dot-sh***er). Just wanted to ention it. I find it hillarious.

"Erbsenzähler" is more common in the northern German dialects. In the south we have the "i-Tüpferl-Reiter", the "dot-on-the-i rider" 🙂

Backpfeigengesicht exists in English! It's a term split into two words (with an optional third word for emphasis): "(Very/Highly/Extremely/etc.) punchable face"! Also, your description of the person that made your hubby use this word (?) describes what is known as a "Karen". Don't be afraid of using the same word for male individuals, by the way.

Nitpicker is one word. I think that is a good translation.

I would translate Erbsenzähler with nit picker as well.

I guess there is an equivalent word for Erbsenzähler in English, which is beancounter

Very well found 🤣 Yeah... there are indeed plenty German words that really should be officially anglified to bring them out into this world... as Feierabend... and Hausmannskost 🥰 Erbsenzähler I think they call a lentils counter, but how about a "Sesselpfurzer"? 🤣

Which part of Germany do you live in, isn't it south? Was a bit surprised you knew kiddlmuddl, as it's really northern. There's also Krimskrams, dingsbums and many other words that are actually just "Wort/lautmalerei". It has some funky greek name in English but is a strong and wide concept in German

My favorite german word: "Eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher" 😁

I always thought a "bean counter" is the equivalent to the German "Erbsenzähler? 🤔

Hey Antoinette, I asked my mother, a 70 year old German, about the Backpfeifengesicht: according to her, the translation "slappable face" is wrong. She said it's like this: in the past slapping kids in the face was normal and afterwards the cheek would get red and swollen: that's a Backpfeifengesicht. So it basically means that a person's face looks like it got hit; someone with a fat, red face. The word is relatively old and not common anymore, since corporal punishment is forbidden now. At least in the German families I know the term is used like this.

Was? " Labersack " hat es nicht ins Finale geschafft? ;-) Schöne Feiertage.

These words are used so often, there are better words or sayings in Germanfor example:' Nicht lang schnacken , Kopf in Nacken' , it means don't talk, drink (your liquor/ the hard stuff) or:' Lass dir Zeit, ist auch ein Walzer'', saying in Plattdeutsch, it means :' Las dir Zeit, morgen ist auch noch Zeit genug. The contrary of that saying is:' Was du heute kannst besorgen, verschiebe nicht auf morgen', the joke version of farmers predictions of the weather by looking at the sk is' Kräht der Hahn auf dem Mist, ändert sich das Wetter oder bleibt, wie es ist😁' the first one is from Hamburg, the rest from Schleswig-Holstein. And there are many more, the last:Wer den Pfennig nicht ehrt, ist des Talers nicht wert', it sums up the German cul/soul

Erbsenzähler, Korinthenkacker, Haarklauber. All words with the same meaning. Haarklauber (hair cleaver) exists in Dutch too, by the way: haarklover. And I'm Dutch there are also two synonyms: mierenneuker (ant f*cker) and muggenzifter (mosquito sifter). 😎😎😎

bean counter. Is that close?

Local and dialect words are even better, like _Tüpflischiisser_ , _Klugschiisser_ , klein karriert_, _Himmel, Arsch und Zwirn_ or _Heimatschutz_ (as swear word)

Schnapsidee ~ pipe dream?

Feierabend, Scherzkeks, Heimweh, Fernweh, Windbeutel, ...

I do Not wish you Kuddelmuddel,but a merry Christmas

@Antoinette Emily: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/a7NnhsWJma-4qGg.html

I guess the English version of Erbsenzähler is bean counter.

Apperantly, in english there is the word bean counter. One german word, which is not funny, but really important and cannot be translated to neither english nor french is "übersichtlich" (Your german pronounciation is close to perfect)

I own a t-shirt I am wearing with pride! It says: "Ein Mann tut, was ein Mann tun muß!" (In large.) And in small letters: "Und was das ist, daß sagt ihm seine Frau." Looking for a gift for my wife: "I'd like something shiny, that goes to a 150 in no time!" I bought her that scale. She was not amused. (Explanation: talking km/h first, than kg. And the joke was a one she told me. But I shocked some, claiming that this really happend.)

ich sehe dieses Video und denke mir "jetzt fehlt nur noch Erbsenzähler" und im nächsten Moment kommt es.

Nitpicking is Erbsen zählen 👍🏼😂

What do you mean it doesn't make sense? I count all my pees.

In terms of word composition, we Germans are world champions....🤣🤣🤣......Reihensechszylinderwirbelkammervierventilturbodieselmotor = inline six-cylinder swirl chamber four-valve turbodiesel engine

I have nice description for the german word for shit, "Scheiße". It is "Scheibenkleister" So when you've started to swear and you have the "sch" spoken you can getting around the bend when you continue with "eibenkleister". Better than to say "Scheiße". 👼👼

There is another, more rude, word for the " Erbsenzähler", the pea counter... it's the "Korinthenkacker", Korinthe = black raisin/corinthe?/currant? 🤷‍♀️ (can't find a good translation) and Kacker=pooper 🫣 sorry, the language of poets and thinker is sometimes very direct and even rude... 😅🙆‍♀️

too Kuddelmudel i prefer Tohuvabohu

Some German here „Backpfeiffengesicht“ is either a hoax or a local speciality, never heard of it, growing up in Niedersachsen and living in Berlin for 10years

Kuddelmuddel = all over the place

Slipperhero? Perhqps an English speaker could imagine or guess the meaning much rather than booze-idea, 😅

One that never shows up in videos like these is "zweisam, Zweisamkeit" and i don't think any other language has a word for this. It's solitude, but together.

Erbsenzähler = bean counter

Another version of 'Schnapsidee' is 'Scheißhausidee'. Shit house idea. Essentially it's meaning the same. It's some stupid idea you come up with, during a session on the toilet. But the idea doesn't have to come from there to be called that.

The best German word by far is Verschlimmbessern. It means that you try to make something better, but actually you just make it worse.

even I as a native and still resident German haven't heard the word Backpfeifengesicht für a damn long time. It describes more a person than a face - but a person that's worth being punished each and every time with a high speed flat hand into his (her) face. Wir sind schon finster drauf hier, ist das peinlich 😎

The good that video is only hours old but why didn't you use Korinthenkacker instead of Erbsenzähler think that would be funia translation Korinthenkacker someone who is just as picky SM Erbsenzähler dead this person probably shits very little Turfs like a rabbit/Kaninchen👍 Sorry riding was dann bei KZfaq Keyboard voice ting😂

You pronounce different from Americans and Englishmen.

one more word for your collection: Teenagerspätlese =mutton dressed as lamb

Never ever used the word "Backpfeifengesicht" and never ever heard any german using this old fashioned word.

Bitte schalte die nervige Hintergrundmusik aus - Danke!

Why you made explaining the word "Erbsenzähler" so complicated? Just refer to the character "Sheldon Couper" in the series "The Big Bang Theory", that describes this word exactly.

"Backpfeifengesicht" Nobody use it in Germany.

Why does every english channel that speaks about funny or interesting German words mention "Backpfeifengesicht"? NOBODY (no German) says this! It seems every channel copies from other channel without listening or even ask Germans. "Schnapsidee" simply means that it was a funny idea that came (or could came in most cases) with lots of alcohol. Only a drunk person has such ideas. But its not always a bad idea! It could be also a very good idea nobody had this before because it looks so strange. So its not always negative. "Pantoffelheld" nobody says this today. It sounds so 1950s like. Two important words on the other hand that are never mentioned are "Hä" and "gä". "Hä?" means "What!?!" and "gä" is the question tag. "Das schmeckt gut, gä?" Very important in the eastern part of germany is also "no" (thuringian) (with a short o, not like the english no, but the english nothern without thern) or "nu" (saxonian). "No"/"nu" is short and dialect for "Na klar." ("Nu glar") (is clear). So this "no" means "yes" or "I understand" or "ok"! Just like the japanese "hai". This confuses sometimes even western Germans. "Verstanden?" "No." "Also nicht?" "Doch!" And not to forget "Jawoll!" A very entusiastic and formal way to say "Ja". Often in a ironic military style connotation. "Hast du mich verstanden?" "Jawoll!". where actually a following", du Arschloch" is not spoken but sounds with it. So ist could be translated to "yes, I have understood you, you asshole and now shut up." And a very useful word is "Jein". What can be translated to "yes, but also no at the same time".

Ok, but your German word backpfeifengesicht is really NOT a word you need in Germany. simply forget it. the same with pantoffelheld and kuddelmuddel simply forget them and don't use such words. I think you will not read them anywhere. Erbsenzähler may describe a typical German habit. thats OK.