Words and Expressions
from a Deutschlandreise 2
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Words Part 1 > 'McDrives' and More
A "McDrive" is what McDonald's Germany calls their drive-up windows, and it's one of those "Gernglish" terms that Germans think is English, but no English-speaker has ever heard. Such words include der Talkmaster (talk show host), das Handy (mobile phone), der Smoking (tuxedo) and der Moonshine-Tarif (night phone rate). Some of them, such as Handy, are actually superior to the real English term, but others are just hilarious - someone needs to explain to Deutsche Telekom what moonshine actually is. And is it McDonald's fault that Germans now use an apostrophe to show possession? ("Proper" German just uses an s without an apostrophe, as in Das ist Karls Auto.)
I had always thought of eine Rufsäule as something you find along the autobahn for emergency calls. But on closer inspection, I discovered that a Rufsäule is also where you give your order (Ihre Bestellung abgeben) for a Big Mäc in a McDrive. Since I didn't actually use one, I don't know if they're any easier to hear/understand than the typical U.S. version. Well, McDonald's Deutschland and English in German could be an entire future article. For more about McDonald's Germany, see their Web site at www.mcdonalds.de.
One last look at interesting German vocabulary. The movie "Chicken Run" opened in Germany on August 10, 2000. As is often the case these days, this DreamWorks film has kept its English-language title, but the German subtitle is a classic - perhaps even better than the English. "Hennen Rennen" features the voices of German actors Ingolf Lück and April Hailer (a Tobis Film feature - www.tobis.de).
Below you'll find a glossary of more terms I encountered on my Deutschlandreise. As they say at McDonald's in Germany, "Gute Fahrt und guten Happetit!"
| Vocabulary - Vokabeln A Glossary of the Vocabulary in This Article |
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der Autoschalter: drive-up window (see "McDrive")
Coke bei drei Grad C: Coke at three degrees Celsius (37F). Europeans, including Germans, generally like to drink their soft drinks (and beer!) at a somewhat warmer temperature than North Americans (and usually without ice!). This slogan was part of a 2000 ad campaign daring Germans to try something different this summer - a really cold soft drink!
defekt (sein): (to be) defective, out of order. This adjective can be found on just about anything that is out of order, from telephones to toilets - usually handwritten on a scrap of paper taped to the defective item. Which Floor? das Erdgeschoss: ground floor der McDrive: drive-up (where you find an Autoschalter) Also see our English-German Glossary of Travel Terms. |
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German on the Web
www.chickenrun.de
The German "Hennen Rennen" movie site.
www.mcdonalds.de
McDonald's German Web site.
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