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I've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm'

I've been struggling to find an equivalent for 'overengineered' in German - there's verschlimmbessern, a portmanteu verb of 'verbessern' (improve) and 'schlimm' (bad), it's what you use when you want to improve something but the end-product is worse. However, German tech (to me!) has a overengineering problem, not a verschlimmbessern problem, there's nothing being improved. Just look at modern German cars, impossible to fix yourself, very expensive to have serviced, for no real gain, pure overengineering. Is there a word? (edit: there's an opposite for OP's 'Lebensmut' - 'Lebensmüdigkeit', literally 'tired of being alive', i.e. suicidal)

lower 7y ago
I usually say überkompliziert.
- ahartmetz 7y ago
  That is missing the passive-aggressiveness of "overengineered"... which is probably fine.
- mbeex 7y ago
  I would probably use 'verkompliziert' or even 'kuenstlich verkompliziert' when emphasizing the active role of the responsible person/group. But the english term is good - short, a bit more specific. It is used as a 'Lehnwort' quite often even in german-speaking tech environments.
larusso 7y ago
What about “vertüftelt”? “tüfteln” means to tinker around. The word means that you bring something into the state of being tinkered together or is complex.
- itronitron 7y ago
  Ingenieurvergnügen
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- kaybe 7y ago
  That can be used as a compliment. You have this problem that seems impossible to solve, but the resident mechanic is able to magick together a solution, like this.
ema 7y ago
We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;) On a more serious note, there is this idea that at their core systems are about accepting inefficiency in order to gain consistency and simplicity. From this perspective us Germans accept inefficiency for consistencies sake but not for simplicity.
- zmix 7y ago
  > We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;) Haha! Yes, totally! No German engineer "overengineers". Ever! It's called "refinement", "evolution" and "sophistication". There is no language to criticise engineers in a nation dominated by engineers (and businesspeople). ;)
  - kaybe 7y ago
    There is no 'underengineer' either though, is there?
    - zmix 7y ago
      If one would really want to name the two terms in question, one might say: * überentwickelt for overengineered (not really used) * unterentwickelt for underdeveloped (matches the word, even) "Unterentwickelt" is a term we do not use lightly, since it is a word we often used in elementary school to bully some kids, so that has that smell to it. (Usually you also add a howling sound to that word and give yourself a smack on your forehead ;))
      - LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
        When it's not 'hochwertig' und 'langlebig', dann ist es 'Schrott'.
- C1sc0cat 7y ago
  As can be seen in the design of German ww2 Panzers Compared to say a Sherman.
DayDollar 7y ago
Hirnschneckenhäuschenbergwerk The german language is basically a lego-language-set, nice for construction and recombination. Unfortunatly, the gramar and rule OCD-Guardians got to it. The trick is to never admit you invented anything, you always heard it elsewhere.. When it is consensus somewhere else, doubt kreeps into the hivemind communication watchmen. Have fun. And get away with it. Death to the duden.
_glass 7y ago
I worked once for a German company that used the German version of overengineered quite a lot, and they used 'eierlegende Wollmilchsau' for this, which is analytically not correct, but everybody understood it as overengineered. In general I think you have to give more context, to translate correctly, i.e. depending on context with 'klimbim', 'Spielerei'.
- gherkinnn 7y ago
  Eierlegende Wollmilchsau (egg-laying, wool-bearing, milk-giving pig) is a jack of all trades. It can mean over engineered (F35 anyone?) or simply a way to describe an unit that does not adhere to the I in SOLID.
progfix 7y ago
I never heard anyone use it before, but 'überentwickelt', which is the antonym to the commonly used 'unterentwickelt', makes perfectly sense and should be understood by every german speaker.

lower 7y ago

I usually say überkompliziert.

ahartmetz 7y ago
That is missing the passive-aggressiveness of "overengineered"... which is probably fine.
mbeex 7y ago
I would probably use 'verkompliziert' or even 'kuenstlich verkompliziert' when emphasizing the active role of the responsible person/group. But the english term is good - short, a bit more specific. It is used as a 'Lehnwort' quite often even in german-speaking tech environments.

larusso 7y ago

What about “vertüftelt”? “tüfteln” means to tinker around. The word means that you bring something into the state of being tinkered together or is complex.

itronitron 7y ago
Ingenieurvergnügen
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
kaybe 7y ago
That can be used as a compliment. You have this problem that seems impossible to solve, but the resident mechanic is able to magick together a solution, like this.

ema 7y ago

We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;) On a more serious note, there is this idea that at their core systems are about accepting inefficiency in order to gain consistency and simplicity. From this perspective us Germans accept inefficiency for consistencies sake but not for simplicity.

zmix 7y ago
> We don't have a word for it because we don't see it as overengineering, we see it simply as engineering ;) Haha! Yes, totally! No German engineer "overengineers". Ever! It's called "refinement", "evolution" and "sophistication". There is no language to criticise engineers in a nation dominated by engineers (and businesspeople). ;)
- kaybe 7y ago
  There is no 'underengineer' either though, is there?
  - zmix 7y ago
    If one would really want to name the two terms in question, one might say: * überentwickelt for overengineered (not really used) * unterentwickelt for underdeveloped (matches the word, even) "Unterentwickelt" is a term we do not use lightly, since it is a word we often used in elementary school to bully some kids, so that has that smell to it. (Usually you also add a howling sound to that word and give yourself a smack on your forehead ;))
    - LargoLasskhyfv 7y ago
      When it's not 'hochwertig' und 'langlebig', dann ist es 'Schrott'.
C1sc0cat 7y ago
As can be seen in the design of German ww2 Panzers Compared to say a Sherman.

DayDollar 7y ago

Hirnschneckenhäuschenbergwerk The german language is basically a lego-language-set, nice for construction and recombination. Unfortunatly, the gramar and rule OCD-Guardians got to it. The trick is to never admit you invented anything, you always heard it elsewhere.. When it is consensus somewhere else, doubt kreeps into the hivemind communication watchmen. Have fun. And get away with it. Death to the duden.

_glass 7y ago

I worked once for a German company that used the German version of overengineered quite a lot, and they used 'eierlegende Wollmilchsau' for this, which is analytically not correct, but everybody understood it as overengineered. In general I think you have to give more context, to translate correctly, i.e. depending on context with 'klimbim', 'Spielerei'.

gherkinnn 7y ago
Eierlegende Wollmilchsau (egg-laying, wool-bearing, milk-giving pig) is a jack of all trades. It can mean over engineered (F35 anyone?) or simply a way to describe an unit that does not adhere to the I in SOLID.

progfix 7y ago

I never heard anyone use it before, but 'überentwickelt', which is the antonym to the commonly used 'unterentwickelt', makes perfectly sense and should be understood by every german speaker.