This summer a friend of ours came to visit for a few weeks. It was great to have her here, and to share a bit of our life in Vienna with her. Like so many of us, however, she unwittingly found herself in a rather hilarious situation resulting from a run-in with the language barrier. I now present to you the highly anticipated second installment of Adventures in German.
On one morning during our pal’s visit, Beth and I took her with us to school (we were taking a month-long intensive German course at a local language school). By late morning it was getting pretty warm, especially considering that most buildings in Vienna do NOT have air conditioning (VCS included, sadly). Anyway, we were in the school’s office when our friend, who speaks basically no German, struck up a bit of a conversation (in English) with the woman in charge of the school’s office. During the conversation the two of them started talking about how hot it was outside, which led to our brave guest trying her hand at German. Emphatically, she stated “Ich bin heiss,” which literally means “I am hot.” In German, however, this phrase has a little different connotation. Basically, it’s the equivalent of saying something like “I’m so hot right now,” where “hot” means something other than body temperature or physical appearance. For equivalent meanings, think of classic phrases like “hot to trot” or “hot and bothered,” etc. I’ll leave you to figure out the rest…
Upon hearing this, the office director just kind of looked at her in stunned silence, unsure of how to proceed with the conversation, her face the picture of befuddlement and social awkwardness. After a few more agonizing moments, we finished up our business and left the office, which gave me a good chance to explain to our friend what she had just said. Naturally, she was pretty horrified, which made it all the more comical. Sometimes I really do love this language!
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