Train station to garden hose, German idioms of bafflement
What happens when you stand on a hose? Germans use quirky idioms when they draw a mental blank, or simply don't get it.
Image: Goldmann/picture alliance
I don't get it
Literally, "nur Bahnhof verstehen" means to "just understand train station." But it's not about trains when Germans utter this common informal idiom; they mean it's all Greek to them, they don't understand a word. The phrase could go back to the fact that train stations are noisy places where people easily find they can't understand announcements — or the arrival and departure boards.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S. Jaitner
Mental blank
Imagine a garden hose that only trickles water because someone or something is standing on it, blocking the flow. The German idiomatic expression "auf dem Schlauch stehen" translates as just that, to stand on the hose — and means someone is at a loss, has drawn a mental blank.
"Ein Brett vor dem Kopf haben" literally means to have a plank on your forehead and is used in situations when people can't think straight, don't see the obvious. This idiom uses imagery from a time when oxen plowed the fields in Germany, outfitted with wooden blinkers to keep them focused. The fellow in the photo used the plank as part of a German carneval (mardi gras) costume.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/O. Berg
Neither head nor tail
The idiom "ich kann mir keinen Reim machen" (I can't find a rhyme) is used in situations and for events people can't make heads or tails of. Finding an explanation can be as daunting sometimes as finding words that rhyme.
Image: Wilm Ihlenfeld - Fotolia.com
Can't see the forest for the trees
The German language has the very same idiom: if you are too involved in the details — the trees — you can't see the big picture, i.e. the forest. You are at a loss, or draw a mental blank even if the obvious is staring you in the face.
Image: P. Frischknecht/blickwinkel/picture alliance
Very mistaken
The German idiom "auf dem Holzweg" translates as, on the wooden path. It means a person may not be flabbergasted or at a loss, but is barking up the wrong tree. The "wooden path" was built in forests to more easily move lumber. For anyone else, it was a dead-end — literally the wrong choice.
Image: Martina Raedlein/picture alliance
At your wit's end
I have run out of ideas, am at my wit's end – the colloquial German idiom "mit dem Latein am Ende" literally means, I have reached the end of my Latin. People who liked to show off by using Latin quotes often knew not another word of the language. Another explanation: At some point, certain expressions simply did not exist in Latin, which was long used for scientific communication.
Image: picture alliance/Prisma Archivo
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You can't see the big picture. You're disoriented, drawing a mental blank. You just don't get it!
The German language has quirky idiomatic expressions to express just that.
Some of the colloquial phrases are direct depiction of someone who is clueless. "Auf dem Slauch stehen," which translates as "standing on the hose," is one of them. There's not much water that runs through a garden hose if someone is standing on it, and blocking it.
Check the above picture gallery for more "I have no idea what's going on" idioms.
You'll find more about Germans and everyday life in Germany on dw.com/MeettheGermans and on YouTube. Make sure to also check out our Instagram account, @dw_meetthegermans.