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That's a really powerful story, but also > kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) Raises more questions than it answers
by defen 6y ago
That's a really powerful story, but also
> kummerspeck (German for grief bacon)
Raises more questions than it answers
- rostigerpudel 6y agoWhen you start eating because you are sad, then, given enough time in this state, you will gain weight -> bacon from grief
- wholinator2 6y agoIt still didn't make sense to me so I googled it and found, "Kummerspeck is the name for excess fat gained by emotional eating – specifically, the excessive eating people do in times of stress or sorrow." So it literally refers to the _fat_ (speck) someone gains by eating while feeling _grief or sorrow_ (kummer). Except that the specific word for fat they use is the word for _animal fat_ and in some instances literally means bacon. What an interesting word. https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfressen/ https://blogs.transparent.com/german/kummerspeck-frustfresse...
- cameldrv 6y agoSpeck is bacon and also (human) fat. Kummerspeck is the fat you get from feeling bad.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- donquichotte 6y agoIt's certainly not a common word in German. In fact, this is the first time I've ever seen it, and all google search results are either dictionary entries or English articles that can be attributed to the Anglosphere's obsession with German compound words. Source: native speaker, reasonably literate
- danielh 6y agoIt is definitely colloquial and not a word you’d use everyday, but it is in Duden: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Kummerspeck
- mfkp 6y agoI love how I just automatically accept the German cookie banner without reading it (but understanding exactly what it says). Modern internet ist scheisse.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- Xylakant 6y agoMight be regional, I certainly know it, I’m from southwest germany.
- weinzierl 6y agoBavaria (southeast Germany) agrees. It's colloquial and - maybe regional - but not an uncommon word in my experience.
- avhception 6y agoNRW reporting in, too
- MrGilbert 6y agoNorthern germany also knows it. Maybe it has something to do with age. It's usage has declined over the years, I think. Maybe because it belittles the underlying issue, as it sounds rather "cute" to a native speaker. Just an educated guess, though.
- tralarpa 6y agoHey, there is somebody wrong in the Internet!!!11 It's a relatively common word. I still remember that I first saw it as a kid in a Garfield comic strip ("Lieber Kummerspeck als gar nichts zu Essen"). focus.de: "Die Wahrheit über Kummerspeck - Wie die Seele uns dick macht" spiegel.de: "Essen gegen Stress und Frust: Was tun gegen Kummerspeck" bildderfrau.de: "Warum Kummerspeck so gefährlich ist" ...
- usr1106 6y ago>> kummerspeck (German for grief bacon) > Raises more questions than it answers True. As a native speaker I know the word, but the sentence makes little sense to me. One could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. Unless in English the word has been loaned and the meaning shifted over time as it sometimes happens with loan words.
- coldtea 6y agoOne could gain Kummerspeck (over weeks, months or years), but one could not be looking like Kummerspeck or sitting there like Kummerspeck. One could very well be in the emotional state for Kummerspeck in that state of their lives, which is what is implied here. Basically parent means: "[Corea] saw in me that I have wanderlust, and that I'm depressed and fat from it". That is, the parent feels like Corea identified and expressed his personal and emotional state at the time, with his playing....
- josh2600 6y agoMan, just coming back to this thread. Thank you for saying this. To add a slight bit more color, I didn’t think of myself as fat and depressed in that moment, more that I had been feeling gorged on the emotions of life and had metaphorically eaten my sorrows. To me, kummerspeck is the feeling of being unable to distinguish between the tears running down your face or the grease on your chin. It’s a feeling of relishing in the grief of burying someone who would want you to eat a ton of bacon at their funeral to celebrate their life. Emotions are rarely simple or easy to explain. It’s still worth the effort to try though.
- busfahrer 6y agoAs a German it's amusing to me that a translation was given for Kummerspeck, but not for Wanderlust.
- wheels 6y agoWanderlust is commonly used as a loanword in English. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/wanderlust
- MockObject 6y agoAs an American it's amusing to me that Wanderlust means the same in German, since both words are English as well.
- cycomanic 6y agoTo another German it's amusing that the individual words exist in German and English, but don't quite mean the same things in each language, i.e. are not really translations of each other.
- jgwil2 6y agoBoth wander and lust are also English words, albeit with slightly different shades of meaning, so it should be comprehensible to a non-German speaker who has never encountered it before, whereas Kummerspeck would not be.
- martyvis 6y agoCoincidentally I saw a tweet yesterday which said that albeit looks like a German word but isn't
- btkramer9 6y agoNot sure why English speakers are in love with German compound words but add me to the list because this phrase is wonderful
- dhosek 6y agoSpanish has some wonderful compound words as well. Puzzle = rompecabezas (literally, breaks heads) mask (like we've been wearing for the last year) = tapabocas (covers/plugs mouths) half-sleep = duermevela (sleep candle) There are more, these are just two of my favorites.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]