German word of the day: Der Klugscheißer
As vulgar as it might sound, today’s word of the day is actually a rather common one.
As vulgar as it might sound, today’s word of the day is actually a rather common one.
The closest translation to Klugscheißer is probably “smart arse”, the literal translation is “smart shitter” (excuse my language). This charming word is used to call out a person who just can’t stop correcting you or who is always blurting out random facts at the most inappropriate times.
That doesn’t have to mean that you necessarily hate the person who you call a Klugscheißer, by the way.
An example for this: You find a new band that you really like. When you meet up with your friend, you start telling him or her about the album you just heard, maybe even start singing a song. Your friend listens, smiles and in the end says: “But you know that they sing x instead of y, right?” That would be a good moment for you to say. “Don’t be such a smart arse!”
Where exactly the word comes from, isn’t quite clear. The verb of Klugscheißer is klugscheißen (“to shit knowledge”). So it might mean to put out knowledge that no one asked for. On that note, the tamer version – Bersserwisser – just means “better-knower.”
SEE ALSO: German word of the day: Der Besserwisser
Also, don’t let yourself be put off by the use of the word “shitter” in Klugscheißer. Using the word is absolutely no problem when you’re around friends or people you have a more colloquial conversation with – no one will look at you in a funny way.
If you need to sound very sophisticated though, it might be better to use the tamer version of the word – Besserwisser or Besserwisserin.
Examples:
Ich habe die Nase voll von Klugscheißern!
I’ve had it with these smart arses!
Immer korrigiert sie mich, sie ist so eine Besserwisserin.
She’s always correcting me, she’s such a smart arse.
Comments (3)
See Also
As vulgar as it might sound, today’s word of the day is actually a rather common one.
The closest translation to Klugscheißer is probably “smart arse”, the literal translation is “smart shitter” (excuse my language). This charming word is used to call out a person who just can’t stop correcting you or who is always blurting out random facts at the most inappropriate times.
That doesn’t have to mean that you necessarily hate the person who you call a Klugscheißer, by the way.
An example for this: You find a new band that you really like. When you meet up with your friend, you start telling him or her about the album you just heard, maybe even start singing a song. Your friend listens, smiles and in the end says: “But you know that they sing x instead of y, right?” That would be a good moment for you to say. “Don’t be such a smart arse!”
Where exactly the word comes from, isn’t quite clear. The verb of Klugscheißer is klugscheißen (“to shit knowledge”). So it might mean to put out knowledge that no one asked for. On that note, the tamer version – Bersserwisser – just means “better-knower.”
SEE ALSO: German word of the day: Der Besserwisser
Also, don’t let yourself be put off by the use of the word “shitter” in Klugscheißer. Using the word is absolutely no problem when you’re around friends or people you have a more colloquial conversation with – no one will look at you in a funny way.
If you need to sound very sophisticated though, it might be better to use the tamer version of the word – Besserwisser or Besserwisserin.
Examples:
Ich habe die Nase voll von Klugscheißern!
I’ve had it with these smart arses!
Immer korrigiert sie mich, sie ist so eine Besserwisserin.
She’s always correcting me, she’s such a smart arse.
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