Having a weakness for another language makes you do weird things. Sometimes I encounter a phrase or joke in German that I have a hard time translating, where the internet bears a hand*. Most of the times this gets me the solution, I feel satisfied and can move on with life. Here is an example of hard-to-translate-phrase. German to English gave me a spinning head*…

Words with an * marked have the traditional Lingo Bingo Explanation (+ synonyms and related words) at the end of this post.

However, I tried to come up with a translation since I couldn’t stand* the fact that the neglecting of my English speaking readers would give me sleepless nights*:

Personnel Management is the art of pulling a fast one on the staff so they perceive the frictional heat as nest warmth.

So maybe, eventually you boss actually kind of digs you…

A full translation is impossible, since “über den Tisch ziehen” is literally translated with “to be pulled over the table”. If you literally pull someone or something over the table, it causes frictional heat (that has nothing to do with linguistics but physics), so I’m not reflecting on this part.

Nest warmth (die Nestwärme) is a term for love an security in a figurative sense. “Nestwärme zu empfinden” basically means that you feel being loved. Nestwärme/nest warmth (incubation) actually is a scientific term for the minimum temperature where the brood (offspring) can develop and survive.

Now check out the listing of idioms I came up with…

Cheat/ Fool, Pull A Fast One and other ways of deception

• to pull a fast one on so. - jemanden über den Tisch ziehen
• to bamboozle so. (into doing sth.) - jemanden übers Ohr hauen (lit. transl.: to trow someone over his ear): My colleague always bamboozles me at work, so he could get away with less work. - Mein Arbeitskollege haut mich immer wieder übers Ohr, sodass er mit weniger Arbeit davon kommt. (to get away with = davonkommen)
• to rip so. off - jemanden ausbeuten, jemanden ausnützen, jemanden abzocken: Tourist rip-off - die Touristenabzocke
• to con(n) so. - jemanden hineinlegen (also a synonym for übers Ohr hauen)

Sleep, Sleepless, Sleepy

• to give sleepless nights to so. - jemandem schlaflose Nächte bereiten: Witnessing a murder gave me sleepless nights. - Ein Zeuge eines Mords zu sein bereitete mir schlaflose Nächte.
• to not lose sleep over sth. - keine schlaflosen Nächte haben wegen einer Sache: I won’t lose sleep over my flight with Brian. - Ich werde keine schlaflosen Nächte wegen meines Streits mit Brian haben.
• shuteye (a synonym for sleep, informal) or to catch some Zs - Schlaf bekommen: I can’t get shuteye since the accident. - I kann keinen Schlaf seit dem Unfall bekommen.
• to be asleep at the switch/wheel (to not be attentive/alert - e.g.: while doing a job) - in der Pendeluhr schlafen (unachtsam sein, z.B.: bei der Arbeit)

Other Idioms Used Today