TwoFools in Zürich

Once upon a time, I thought I might have a word-a-day theme on this blog. Little did I know how difficult German would be for me.  Now it's more like a word once in a while.  I'm looking at how certain words in German that seem to resonate culturally and will occasionally report my findings and my speculations. In some cases I will be woefully in error. If I am, speak up and let me know (especially if you are a native speaker).


The word Gemütlich has been borrowed by English speakers. We usually associate it with coziness, perhaps with somewhat negative overtones: a twee little cottage with a wood-fire burning on the hearth, a chintz covered sofa and frilly curtains. So gemütlich you could suffocate.

In German, the word has a much broader and positive cultural resonance, as well as a more varied usage. The cover article in a recent Deutsch Perfekt  is titled Bern, Die Gemütliche Hauptstadt (Bern, The Gemütlich Capital). A poster on city trams advertises a gemütlich fitness center . A blogger titles his post  Gemütliche Speisen im Chez Fritz; in other words Gemütlich dining.  You can shop gemütlich-ly (gemütlich einkaufen).  You can cycle in a gemütlich manner through the Goms in Wallis. You can make yourself gemütlich and a meeting can enter a gemütlich phase.

A city, a fitness center, a dinner, a shopping trip, a cycling tour, a meeting, and even a person can all be gemütlich. What they all have in common is a relaxation of the formality that marks much of German (and Swiss) social life, as well as a relaxation of agenda-driven, tightly-organized daily life. Jackets on the back of the chair, ties loosened, as Deutsche-Welle put it. Or as my teacher put it, gemütlichkeit means without stress.

The paradigmatic model may be much like ours, the cozy, enveloping warmth of home. But for German speakers the divide between private informality and public formality is sharper than for (New World) English speakers. Home in the Germanic world offers a correspondingly more acute sense of freedom from societal strictures and pressures, and there is a high cultural value placed on the feelings of comfort, calm, sociability and belonging associated with gemütlichkeit.

Here's wishing for more gemütlichkeit in all of our lives.

Sources
Wiki
Gemütlichkeit in Harlem
Deutsche-Welle