Writer's Block: The Wrath of Ohrwurm

[kitewithfish]

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All languages have a word for everything. Or they make one up soon thereafter. This is a stupid prompt.

Comments

[ungesehen.livejournal.com]

+1

[divvums.livejournal.com]

+2

[bagelofdeath.livejournal.com]

This bothered me. Because their example is 'ohrworm', which they then say is translated as 'earworm' in English. So it's clearly not a very good example of a word that sets German apart; we have it, too.

[beanie-platypus.livejournal.com]

Weeeeelll, I think they sort of have a point- 'Ohrwurm' a much funnier way of expressing the idea of "a song that gets stuck in your head" than "a song that gets stuck in your head" (cumbersome much?)

But when I think of "earworm" in English, I think of earwigs, which are clearly ickier than the German model. The literal translation of the German word fails to convey the correct English equivalent of the idea.

[bagelofdeath.livejournal.com]

I prefer earworm to 'repetune'.