The roof, the gas factory and now the schlimmbesserung
I’ve got a new word for my small, but growing collection of useful foreign phrases and euphemisms: schlimmbesserung. It’s a German term for a well-meaning improvement which actually makes things worse. We’ve all encountered those and, truth be told, we’ve all implemented a few as well. So now whenever someone suggests that you throw out that proven milling machine/application software/bonus scheme for something new and whizzy, you can ask them to reassure you that it won’t be a schlimmbesserung. No-one will know what you mean, but you’ll sound very cosmopolitan. And it’s always good to get one back on the jargoneers.
Anyone got any others?
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:14 pm
Can work well, except for when the person you use it with speaks fluent Deutsche to your surprise, & then throws a few hundred back at you…
June 18th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Um, that would be a schlimmbesserung!