4 ms·

Creepy ~= Gruselig/Unheimlich Awkward ~= Komisch/Unbeholfen And the concepts totally do translate to German. A lot of people would describe a "creepy guy" as

by pluma 10y ago

Creepy ~= Gruselig/Unheimlich Awkward ~= Komisch/Unbeholfen And the concepts totally do translate to German. A lot of people would describe a "creepy guy" as "gruselig" in German. Actually we've imported the word "Freak" to describe these people. As an aside: there was a German copy of the "Beauty and the Geek" show that was far more dehumanising and called "Das Model und der Freak" where the entire concept was that "pretty" c-list celebrity women would give a "nerdy loser" a makeover to turn him into a generic alpha male womanisers. The entire concept was "here's this loser weirdo no girl would ever date, let's make him conventionally attractive and exterminate his pre-existing personality in its entirety". The sole point of the show was ridiculing these "weirdos" and their strange hobbies -- of course the exploitable traits were exaggerated through bad scripting and heavy editing. A pet peeve of mine is that until recently the words "geek" and "nerd" have often been replaced by "Freak" as movies are translated to German, drastically skewing the intended meaning ("Freak" is almost always an insult). Recently "Geek" and "Nerd" seem to have entered the German language (especially the former, mostly via gaming and social media) so hopefully that's coming to an end.

sprash 10y ago
> Creepy ~= Gruselig/Unheimlich > Awkward ~= Komisch/Unbeholfen Those translations don't really contain that additional negativity of "Creepy/Awkward". It is hard really pinpoint it though. > there was a German copy of the "Beauty and the Geek" show that was far more dehumanising and called "Das Model und der Freak" where the entire concept was that "pretty" c-list celebrity women would give a "nerdy loser" a makeover to turn him into a generic alpha male womanisers. But that was so much more over the top. Those guys were more like "eklig" (disgusting).
- detaro 10y ago
  To me the range of negativity (from let's say "creepy Halloween decoration" to "that creepy old guy" or "a jar full of babys' fingers") is similar in both languages, and something that has to be inferred from context. "Creepy" covers the disgusting axis a bit more, but eklig/ekelhaft covers that area easily if necessary. The fact that "creepy" is used in German language sometimes points towards that the terms are not exactly identical, but it's a tiny difference and in no way big enough to say that the concept doesn't exist. It's just a shorthand for something that otherwise might require a modifier or explanation, + using English is cool.

by pluma 10y ago

sprash 10y ago

> Creepy ~= Gruselig/Unheimlich > Awkward ~= Komisch/Unbeholfen Those translations don't really contain that additional negativity of "Creepy/Awkward". It is hard really pinpoint it though. > there was a German copy of the "Beauty and the Geek" show that was far more dehumanising and called "Das Model und der Freak" where the entire concept was that "pretty" c-list celebrity women would give a "nerdy loser" a makeover to turn him into a generic alpha male womanisers. But that was so much more over the top. Those guys were more like "eklig" (disgusting).

detaro 10y ago
To me the range of negativity (from let's say "creepy Halloween decoration" to "that creepy old guy" or "a jar full of babys' fingers") is similar in both languages, and something that has to be inferred from context. "Creepy" covers the disgusting axis a bit more, but eklig/ekelhaft covers that area easily if necessary. The fact that "creepy" is used in German language sometimes points towards that the terms are not exactly identical, but it's a tiny difference and in no way big enough to say that the concept doesn't exist. It's just a shorthand for something that otherwise might require a modifier or explanation, + using English is cool.