01 March 2007

Lieblingswort (favorite word)

A friend is getting married in the fall. Her soon-to-be mother-in-law is consistently mean. Witness this recent e-mail exchange:
Friend: We chose [place name] for the groom's dinner.
Mother-in-law: Why don't you let [groom's name] make a decision?
This reminded me of a good word of the day: harridan. "A scolding, vicious woman; hag; shrew." I love the German somewhat equivalent: boesartig (i.e., vicious).

3 comments:

Julia said...

You know these big round cactuses with long stings? We call that Schwiegermuttersitz.

Anonymous said...

At home we always called the Dieffenbachia 'Schwiegermutterpflanze'. Sounds like that lady is as poisonous and suffocating as that plant...

Sophzilla said...

Schwiegermuttersitz and Schwiegermutterpflanze. Those are wunderschoen! Danke!