• @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      172 months ago

      Flugabwehrkanonenpanzerkampfwagen Gepard

      It literally means “aerial-defense-cannon-armoured-battle-vehicle cheetah”. Not shorter in English.

      German doesn’t have longer words, it’s just that you can stick together existing words to make up new words. For example, “the front door of the house” in German is “Haustür”, literally “housedoor”. It goes on logically, like “the handle of the front door of the house” is Haustürklinke, literally housedoorhandle. This way it is possible to make up arbitrarily long words which becime ever more specific, just without a tonne of “of” in between.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        6
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        But general usage is rarely more than 2 or 3 short words stuck together. Stuff like Vorratskasten and Notreserve or Fliegengitter. Well, ok, there’s stuff like Insektenbekämpfungsmittel.

      • WIZARD POPE💫
        link
        fedilink
        English
        42 months ago

        I don’t know why I read the door handle as Haustürk-linke. Love me a house turkish leftist.

      • ferret
        link
        English
        32 months ago

        US Military would probably call it “ADCABC Cheetah” because indecipherable acronyms are much better.