Ever had one of those conversations with a colleague…
…where they get upset about something that happened ages ago?
An old boss. An old project. An old mistake.
You listen. They get more emotional. And you think to yourself: Why are we still talking about this?
In German, there’s a perfect way to say:
Schnee von gestern (Literally: Snow from yesterday)
Imagine it had been snowing yesterday (es hätte gestern geschneit).
All the streets and houses had been covered with snow (wären mit Schnee bedeckt).
But today, it’s a beautiful day (ein schöner Tag).
The sun is shining and the snow has melted (ist geschmolzen).
It’s not there anymore, it has disappeared (es ist verschwunden).
It belongs to the past (zur Vergangenheit) now .
And that’s exactly what we mean by this expression.
When we say in German:
- Das ist Schnee von gestern!
We mean:
- It’s all water under the bridge now.
- That’s an old hat.
Got it!?
So here’s your action step:
Imagine your German-speaking colleague Karl-Johann starts talking about his old company and the boss he had there (und über den Chef, den er dort hatte).
He starts getting angry, remembering how stressful it was (wie stressig es war).
Phone calls. Appointments. Meetings. Deadlines (Fristen).
Calm him down, and tell him:
- Ärgere dich nicht! Das ist Schnee von gestern! (Don’t worry! It’s all water under the bridge now.)
And this is what it sounds like: