• @stetech
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      18 hours ago

      Someone break this word down for me

      Hilfe leistungs lösch gruppen fahrzeug

      (technically i’d need to add capitalization and dashes when separating into full nouns)

      help giving exterminating groups’ vehicle drive thing (as others in this thread have noted)

      Das Hilfeleistungslöschgruppenfahrzeug der Feuerwehr […]

      The aid-providing fire-fighting vehicle of the fire department

      Es transportiert Feuerwehrleute, Leitern, Werkzeuge, Schläu[che…]

      It transports firefighters, ladders, tools, hoses

      Not gonna lie, it’s a bit over the top. Feuerwehrfahrzeug (fire dept’s truck) would’ve sufficed IMO. Nobody not working as a firefighter (and arguably not even all of those who do) knows let alone uses that long-form word.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 day ago

    I love how the Germans use zeuge.

    Tools? Those are work things. (Werkzeuge)

    Airplanes? You know, flying things! (Flugzeuge)

    Vehicles? Duh, the driving things! (Fahrzeuge)

    Why make new word when two (or six) words will do?

    • @katkit
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      721 hours ago

      I think it’s fun how Zeug has gone from a technical meaning to a cute one.

      The current meaning of Zeug is something like stuff or unimportant things.

      It used to mean kit, gear or equipment though, which makes a lot of sense and is still visible in words like Zeugwart (equipment manager of a sports team or army).

      With that knowledge, Werkzeug would just be a tool kit.

    • esa
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      721 hours ago

      Same thing in Norwegian with “tøy” (verktøy, fly, kjøretøy, plus fartøy for water-faring vessels) … and then tøy by itself means cloth or clothes (also available through klestøy)

    • @[email protected]
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      281 day ago

      Swimsuit? Bath stuff (Badezeug)
      Bedding? Bed stuff (Bettzeug)
      Lighter? Fire stuff (Feuerzeug)
      Drums? Strike stuff (Schlagzeug)
      Toys? Play stuff (Spielzeug)
      Bandages? Bind stuff (Verbandszeug)

    • @[email protected]
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      111 day ago

      Like… Fire things, green things, bed things, playing things and hundreds of other things. Love it almost as much as animals that are just something-animal. Like bag-animal (marsupial), beak-animal (platypus) or belt-animal (armadillo).