2017 is underway! I have neglected my blog ... and the time "between the years" - zwichen den Jahren in German, which is used to describe the days between Christmas and New Year or the 6th of January (Epiphany) - got away from me.
In Germany, the common wish for New Years Eve is "Ein Guten Rutsch!". It is wishing someone a good slide into the new year (Rutsch = slide). Actually, you aren't hoping someone will slide into the year well for fear of them maybe falling down along the way - like sliding across a patch of ice successfully ...
But the verb rutsch, which today means "to slide", was used over 100 years ago also to mean "to travel". And so, to wish someone a good Rutsch means the equivalent of wishing them a good journey into the new year.
VOCAB TIDBIT:
Rutsch in the new years greeting is a noun. It is a slide, a slip, or a trip. Ein Guten Rutsch!
Rutsch is a also verb that can be conjugated to mean "to slide".
An example of using both of these forms in one sentence is:
Ich rutsche auf der Rutsche.
That second Rutsche (nouns in German are always capitalized!!) in the above sentence is short for Rutschbahn (literally a sliding lane or track). Can you guess what that is?
A slide!
Anyway, I hope I won't let my blog SLIDE so long again ... and look forward to sharing more German with you in 2017!
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