Let’s have some fun with this weird German language!
In this series of posts, I’ll show you how to make your German speaking colleagues laugh, with ONE simple sentence.
Auf die Palme bringen
(On the palm to bring)
Have you ever seen a crazy monkey (einen verrückten Affen)…
Do you know what they do when they are really going crazy and they are angry (wenn sie wütend sind)?
Yes, they start climbing up on a palm tree (auf eine Palme) :-)
And that’s exactly what we mean with this German expression.
So when we say in German:
- Du bringst mich auf die Palme!
We mean:
- You’re driving me crazy!
- You’re driving me nuts!
- You’re driving me up the wall!
Got it!?
So here’s your action step:
Imagine you finish your work (du beendest deine Arbeit).
You clean up your desk and leave everything organized (und hinterlässt alles aufgeräumt).
Next day, you step into your office and you see your German-speaking colleague Manfred on your desk (an deinem Tisch) having breakfast and looking for some documents…
Look at this desk.
What a mess (Welch eine Unordnung)!
And this is not the first (das erste Mal) time Manfred did this.
Look at him and tell him honestly (aufrichtig) how you’re feeling right now:
- Manfred, du bringst mich echt auf die Palme! Alles ist wieder durcheinander. (Manfred, you’re really driving me crazy! Everything is messed up once again.)
And this is what it sounds like:
Then, tell me in the comments below how he reacted :-)