Ever had one of those days at work…
…when you suddenly realize you haven’t eaten for hours?
You’ve been in meetings. You’ve been answering emails. You’ve been working non-stop.
And by the time you finally finish…
You’re starving.
In German, there’s a wonderfully strange way to say exactly that.
Der Kohl is cabbage. Der Dampf is steam.
But the expression has nothing to do with cabbage.
It comes from Rotwelsch, an old secret language once used by beggars, and thieves.
In that language, two different words meant hunger.
- “Kohler” meant hunger.
- And “Dampf” also meant hunger.
So when people said Kohldampf, they were basically saying:
In other words:
Really hungry.
And that’s exactly what this expression means.
When we say in German:
- Ich habe Kohldampf!
we mean:
- I’m famished!
- I’m starving!
- I’m ravenous!
Got it?!
So here’s your action step:
Imagine you’re working with your German-speaking colleague Andreas on an important project (an einem wichtigen Projekt).
The deadline for finishing and delivering the presentation to your boss is today at 20:00 (heute um 20 Uhr).
At 19.59 you finally finish and send the presentation to your boss (deinem Chef).
After an exhausting day (Nach einem anstrengenden Tag) and more than 10 hours of working without a break (ohne Pause zu machen), look at Andreas and say to him (sag ihm):
And this is what it sounds like:
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