4 ms·
Amusingly one of these untranslatable words is is in fact both a direct back translation from another language and has actually taken on an entirely different m
by patrec 10y ago
Amusingly one of these untranslatable words is is in fact both a direct back translation from another language and has actually taken on an entirely different meaning.
"Take the German noun Treppenwitz, which literally means ‘staircase wit’: that all too common phenomenon of a witty rejoinder that comes to mind just after an interaction!"
Only that's not the meaning in German.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27esprit_de_l%27escalier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%27esprit_de_l%27escalier
- pbhjpbhj 10y agoIs there an explanation for how the modern usage you're describing of treppenwitz relates to staircases?
- patrec 10y agoWell, I think the development was that Treppenwitz originally was just a Germanisation of l'esprit d'escalier. However Hertslet's book "Der Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte" (The Treppenwitz of world history) mentioned on the Wikipedia page became a well known phrase and caused a shift in meaning, although the usage in the title of the book itself was still basically the original one.