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the Germ-ans (feddit.org)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 months ago (4 children)

Ok but Schmetterling doesn’t even sound worse. Just picture it in a not angry German accent

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

If anything it's a good exemple of a nice German word

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Well, "schmettern" (verb) literally means to smash or to belt something. "Schmetterling" comes from the old Slavic "Schmetten", meaning cream (the one you skim off milk), but it sounds more like it comes from "schmettern", which is a word still in use.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

The "schmett" makes me think of the mess that's left if you squish one.

EDIT: Curious about the etymology of the German word, and the "schmett" part means "cream," which is similar to the "butter" part we use in English. The closest word an English speaker might recognize is probably the Yiddish "schmir."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

There's too many consonants

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago (1 children)

But only the "TT" sound harsh, which is the same as butterfly, which I'd argue sounds harsher overall.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Good point. They even have the same amount of number of syllables.

Also, Butterfly sounds too much like Butt-fly

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Thanks Sauerkraut, I thought so too.