# How Would a German Say "Oops"?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 21, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671 "2014-07-21T16:37:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/1 "2014-07-21T16:37:29Z")

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As in, he dropped something, he made a mistake, etc. How would he express it?

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/2 "2014-07-21T17:34:02Z")

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According to the Google Translator, it is “Hoppla”, and a fairly similar word in several other central European languages. Using a different translator, Hoppla translates back into English as Oops, and in one instance, “Oops-a-daisy”.

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**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/3 "2014-07-21T17:37:48Z")

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‘Hoppla’ works, but ‘ups’ is also a fairly common German interjection meaning essentially the same thing (in fact, I’d view ‘hoppla’ as maybe slightly outdated).

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**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/4 "2014-07-21T22:05:24Z")

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> [@HeyHomie](#):
>
> As in, he dropped something, he made a mistake, etc. How would he express it?

So, zis is un hypothetical question?

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**Author:** ![JKilez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@JKilez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKilez)\
**Post date:** [July 21, 2014, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/5 "2014-07-21T22:15:07Z")

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I knew older German-Americans who would say “scheiße” at such times.

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**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\
**Post date:** [July 22, 2014, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-would-a-german-say-oops/693671/6 "2014-07-22T15:02:07Z")

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> [@Gatopescado](#):
>
> So, zis is un hypothetical question?

Well, I was going to write a piece about the Germans damaging their World Cup trophy (and the German word for “Oops” was going to figure in either the title or the lead sentence), but then I decided that 400 words about this mishap was about 250 words too many, so I decided against it.