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German word of the day: Der Schattenparker

July 23rd 2019

By The Local.de

Always thought that parking your car in the shade was the best thing to do? The German language seems to disagree.

This word is made up from 'shadow' or 'shade' (der Schatten) and der Parker. So a Schattenparker is literally somebody who parks their car in the shade in order to avoid it heating up in the sun.

While this may sound like a sensible idea and not one worth criticizing, this word is used to dismiss someone as a wimp. Parking in the shade to avoid the sun is seen as a sign of weakness.

This criticism definitely contradicts the stereotype that Germans normally favour sensible behaviour.

In fact, it would seem the Germans look lowly on a number of behaviours as there are a vast number of similar German compound words which also mock habits seen as weak.

Here are a few other German compound nouns which are used to insult others…

Der Sockenschläfer- sock sleeper

Der Warmduscher- warm showerer

Der Frühbucher- early booker

Der Chefwitzlacher- someone who laughs at their bosses’ jokes

Der Jeansbügler- jeans ironer

Der Teetrinker -someone who drinks tea

Der Sitzpinkler- (a man) who wees sitting down

Das Weichei- soft egg

Der Handschuhschneeballwerfer- the glove-snowball-thrower (someone who needs to wear gloves when throwing snowballs because the snow is too cold for their hands)

Meanwhile, in case you're wondering, der Schwächling is a non-compound noun that means weakling.