Well, "schmettern" (verb) literally means to smash or to belt something. "Schmetterling" comes from the old Slavic "Schmetten", meaning cream (the one you skim off milk), but it sounds more like it comes from "schmettern", which is a word still in use.

YellowTraveller@lemm.ee · 4 pts · 1y (3 replies)

There's too many consonants

grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 1y (2 replies)

But only the "TT" sound harsh, which is the same as butterfly, which I'd argue sounds harsher overall.

Sauerkraut@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Good point. They even have the same amount of number of syllables.

Also, Butterfly sounds too much like Butt-fly

grrgyle@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 1y

Thanks Sauerkraut, I thought so too.

samus12345@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

The "schmett" makes me think of the mess that's left if you squish one.

EDIT: Curious about the etymology of the German word, and the "schmett" part means "cream," which is similar to the "butter" part we use in English. The closest word an English speaker might recognize is probably the Yiddish "schmir."

lugal@sopuli.xyz · 29 pts · 1y (7 replies)

Zangendeutsch: Butterfliege

dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 13 pts · 1y (5 replies)

What is zangendeutsch? Google isn't giving me much in the way of English answers

lugal@sopuli.xyz · 31 pts · 1y (3 replies)

It's basically an insider from a German meme community here on lemmy. The community is called ich_iel (a translation of me_irl) and people use bad literal translations from English as a joke and call it Zangendeutsch. Butterfliege is a literal translation of butterfly but not the real translation.

dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 11 pts · 1y (2 replies)

I wish I spoke German. That's exactly my type of humor. Lol

accideath@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 1y (1 reply)

It’s never too late to learn. Just don’t use the ich_iel community as study material or you’ll end up speaking a very strange kind of German.

dharmacurious@slrpnk.net · 4 pts · 1y

I mean, it'd have to go better than my attempts at learning Spanish. Lol. 5 new years resolutions in a row!

PlexSheep@infosec.pub · 7 pts · 1y

Tja

idiomaddict@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

I said Schmierkampagne in real life yesterday.

I’m a native English speaker and Zangendeutsch is ruining me.

moshtradamus666@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 1y (1 reply)

That's funny, in Brazilian Portuguese 'mariposa' means 'moth', and the word for 'butterfly' is 'borboleta'. TDIL.

PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 1y

‘borboleta’

Lol sounds like medieval siege engine name

SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 23 pts · 1y (3 replies)

TOOL was the first group of people who proved to me that innocuous german words can be made to sound like a thundering political speech filled with evil intent when in reality it's just a cake (cookie?) recipe with no eggs.

sverit@lemmy.ml · 13 pts · 1y

UND KEINE EIER!

Hagdos@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 1y

Die eier von Satan literally means Satan's eggs. It's a recipe for round cookies with hash. And no eggs.

TheDarksteel94@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 1y

Can't unhear the guy's accent 😂

BetaBlake@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 1y (3 replies)

Papillon in French

Scrollone@feddit.it · 8 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Sommerfugl (bird of summer) in Danish :)

pseudo@jlai.lu · 4 pts · 1y

C'est magnifique.

dubyakay@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 1y

And Pillangó in Hungarian. I love both words.

riodoro1@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 1y (2 replies)

This image is so ancient it doesn't use flags emoji.

Scrollone@feddit.it · 3 pts · 1y

And still uses the old meme faces.

toastal@lemmy.ml · 3 pts · 1y

Nor should they

I_Clean_Here@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Butterfly is a terrible name

Klear@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1y

And fish should be flowers.

toastal@lemmy.ml · 12 pts · 1y (1 reply)

ผีเสื้อ in Thai translates to “shirt ghost” 🤷 it sounds very similar to the tone-deaf as “tiger ghost” which is certainly a cooler name, but nope.

KomfortablesKissen@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 1y

Sounds like describing a moth. Are they maybe found more often than butterflies in Thailand?

notsofunnycomment@mander.xyz · 12 pts · 1y

Someone once told me to that words for things that are not traded across linguistic borders exhibit more linguistic diversity (as in, neighbouring countries use completely different words that share no common etymological roots etc.). Butterfly is one key example.

sirico@feddit.uk · 11 pts · 1y

We used to call then flutterbys definitely trolling

steelyDansSteamedHam@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 1y

Afrikaans: skoenlapper, which translates to shoe licker.

MisterNeon@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 1y

Papalotl in Nahuatl.

Rozauhtuno@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 9 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Ancient meme. Handle with caution

EherVielleicht@feddit.org · 3 pts · 1y

Plus don't pronounce 'caution' so ruff.

Phantaminum@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 1y

Mariposa gang

Stalinwolf@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 1y

A schmetterling is the approximate amount of shit one spackles into the bowl of the toilet after a particularly fibrous day. It's not so much that it clogs the plumbing or anything, but it certainly leaves a schmetterling of evidence behind for the next man to attempt to knock loose with his stream.

A very beautiful word.

Alpha71@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 1y

SCHMETTERLING!!!

tiredofsametab@fedia.io · 4 pts · 1y

蝶々ちょうちょう chouchou in japanese (although technically the first chou means the same thing; I'm not sure if there is a real difference)

moshtradamus666@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Still funny since 2010s

EherVielleicht@feddit.org · 2 pts · 1y

Yep, memory leak....

gofsckyourself@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 1y (2 replies)

This shit is ignorant as fuck.

EherVielleicht@feddit.org · 10 pts · 1y (1 reply)