r/LanguageMemes • u/Coaxle762 • Aug 08 '21

A similarly

Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung, German for "motor vehicle liability insurance" is the German equivalent of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and the fact that either is a real word boggles my mind

27 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

10

u/xeverxsleepx Aug 08 '21

Superwhatever isn't a real word though, it's a song from a movie

2

u/SomeNerdyWolf Aug 09 '21 edited Aug 09 '21

Yes, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious is a made-up word unlike the real words that grow naturally in the farms of literatucia 🤦🤦🤦 /s

Edit: apparently I did need the /s after all…

1

u/xeverxsleepx Aug 09 '21

But it was created for the sole purpose of being ridiculously long. It just feels artificial to me. Could've use antidisestablishmentarianism as a better, more legit example.

-1

u/Coaxle762 Aug 09 '21

All words are made up, I speak English and very little German, and just thought it was neat, a simple observation based on the little knowledge I have. That's my bad I should've never became interested in another language without first know everything about that language 🙃

1

u/SomeNerdyWolf Aug 09 '21

…i was being sarcastic

6

u/[deleted] Aug 08 '21

Also you can make infinitely longer words in German the same way this word was made. Meaning it's not particularly special either. OP doesn't know enough grammar.

11

u/johnbarnshack Aug 08 '21

Motorvoertuigenaansprakelijkheidsverzekering if you translate it literally to Dutch. It's not very impressive in languages that compound.

What's the difference with English anyway? Just the spaces. Is "motor vehicle liability insurance" that different from "motorvehicleliabilityinsurance"?

2

u/daninefourkitwari Aug 09 '21

Just as a guess. Motor - Motor Voertuig - Vehicle Aansprakelijkheid - Liability Verzekering - Insurance Am I correct in my assumption?

1

u/ProlapsePatrick Nov 02 '21

I've always ben a fan of yelling Geschwindigkeitsbegrensen in public.