Monday, January 9, 2017

The New Year RUTSCH

Image result for guten rutsch

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?

Image result for rutschbahn
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!