13 ms·

Can you explain Bauernfängerei a bit more? The direct english translation seems to be "Egg Catching Farmer", and I don't understand why that represents con art

• Crazywater 9y ago
  The problem with German is here that it concatenates words without any indication what the break is :) Your translation is for BauernFängerEi ("farmer catching egg", which doesn't make too much sense), while this is BauernFängerei ("farmer catching/trapping"). "...erei" is similar to "...ery" in English. I guess the saying comes from the prejudice that farmers are not the smartest people, and therefore people trying to catch/trap/trick/prey on stupid people are called "farmer/peasant catchers".
  • SyneRyder 9y ago
    Ahh! I thought the farmer was the one doing the catching, not the one being caught. (I'd started dreaming up an idiom about "as easy as catching eggs from a trapped hen".) Thank you!
• McSido 9y ago
  It is the first time hearing this word(seems to be an older word ) but a better translation would be something like "Farmer trap". According to Wikipedia it originated in a war where mercenary groups got farmers drunk and had them sign contracts to have them work for them. Nowadays it's just used as a word to describe a scam where you trick people that don't really understand what they are agreeing to sign a favorable (to the scammer) contract, etc.
• ehllo 9y ago
  "Bauernfängerei" is just another german meaning for deception and has a historical background(farmers were lured into signing a contract to fight in the army). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Years%27_War