I have many things on my plate, which oddly makes it fitting that I should declutter my desk - one piece of paper at a time. Here's an article on words of German origin.
Of course, Sensei has compiled other interesting stuff related to German:
We are familiar with these yummy German delicacies: strudel, pretzels, and bratwurst. But did you know that English and German are both West Germanic languages and share common ancestral traits linguistically? Particularly, in the last century, many English words have been borrowed from German, thus adding to the rich vocabulary that English has taken from other languages.
People all over the world are bonded by their common love of eating. Hence, German food made its way to English-speaking nations - via immigrants or tourists - and are often still known by their original German names.
Words for scientific and musical developments have been adopted into English.
Here are some rules governing the spelling for words of German origin.
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German words often have 3 or more consonants occurring in combination (e.g. angst, schnapps).
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Z that occurs after a T is usually pronounced as \s\ (eg glitz, blitz, pretzel, waltz).
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W is pronounced as \v\ in German (eg edelweiss, bratwurst).
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The Germanic language also does not have a soft G. Words from this origin retain their hard G even when followed by E or I. For example, the words "get," "gift," and "give." So, when discerning kids who are able to point out these words do not follow the soft g rule, teachers may tell them "they are naughty words who don't follow the rules". Anything that doesnt follow the rules - we can simplify and say they are being “naughty”.
Some interesting German words:
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“Uber” signifies superiority. It’s German in origin and is usually combined with another word. “These sunglasses are uber-cool, man!”
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Poltergeist means noisy ghost in German.