Just language rubbish

...don’t mind me.

It came to me yesterday while I was making my dinner. I drank some orange juice and wondered about the word ‘juice’ and the German equivalent, which is ‘Saft’. Basically it means the same - although in different languages, of course.

But while a juice shop (if that word does exist) would not be anything bad - just a place where you can buy various types of juice (apple juice, orange juice and so on, add you favourites here) -, the German “Saftladen” doesn’t mean the same. Although the word ‘Laden’ means ‘shop’, a “Saftladen” is not a place where you can buy juice - it’s a shop where you can’t buy anything that’s worth buying. We Germans use this word when we want to tell someone their shop is crap.

Aren’t languages interesting? Next time on “Just language rubbish”: Why ‘
address’ and ‘become’ are false friends to Germans.