This one simple sentence will make your colleagues laugh (Alles in Butter)

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.

(Everything in butter!)

Do you remember the old times with carriages and horses (mit Kutschen und Pferden)?

Imagine relocating from one city to another and carrying all your fragile goods like porcelains and glassware in the carriage (in der Kutsche).

How do you think would things arrive after riding on those bumpy roads (auf diesen holprigen Straßen)?

Of course. Broken (Kaputt)!

So what people did at that time was putting their fragile goods into a barrel filled with liquid butter (gefüllt mit flüssiger Butter).

Isn’t it a great idea (eine großartige Idee)?

Once the butter was cooled down, everything was locked and secured (alles war verschlossen und sicher).

And once arrived, they would just ask:

This way, they actually just wanted to check if everything was ok (ob alles in Ordnung war).

And that’s exactly what we mean with this German expression.

So when we say in German:

We actually mean:

Got it?!

So here’s your action step:

Imagine arriving at work on Monday morning after a long weekend (nach einem langen Wochenende).

You step into the office and you see your German-speaking colleague Armin sleeping on his desk (schlafend auf seinem Tisch).

Wake him up gently and ask him if everything is ok.

And this is what it sounds like:

Then, tell me in the comments below how they reacted :-)