# Question for German speakers **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677 "2022-06-23T14:31:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/1 "2022-06-23T14:31:19Z")
Someone told me today that as a child she learned that the German expression for “have a nice trip” or “bon voyage” is “Gut Fahrt”, which of course is hilarious to English-speaking children. My vague memory is that in school I was taught it was “Gute Reise”. Is this a potty-mouthed urban legend, or was my curriculum sanitized? What do German people actually say? ---
**Author:** ![Anaglyph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Anaglyph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaglyph)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/2 "2022-06-23T14:47:33Z")
In can be either “Gute Fahrt” or “Gute Reise”. Both are proper German. And don’t offer a “Gift” to a German, as this would be Poison. “Mist” is German for manure - If your German friend calls out “So ein Mist” he is not commenting on the weather, but calls out bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/3 "2022-06-23T14:53:47Z")
Fahrt is a rendition of the infinitive verb fahren and incorporated into fahrvergnügen. As in “Wir fahr’n fahh’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn” (Kraftwerk) or the Volkswagen commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Thing.Fish](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thing.fish/32/9168_2.png) [@Thing.Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thing.Fish)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/4 "2022-06-23T14:59:42Z")
Yes, I know enough German to see that the expression makes sense, I was just wondering if it’s the one in common usage. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/5 "2022-06-23T15:13:16Z")
All answers and cultural references are correct. _Fahrt_, as **AHunter3** wrote, comes from the verb _fahren_, which is anything you do on wheels and some more because languages are complicated: you may whish _Gute Fahrt!_ when somebody is taking or about to take a train, riding (or about to ride) a bicicle, driving (you get the general idea) a car or a motorcycle… etc. _Gute Überfahrt_ would be used when somebody is about too board a ship that crosses some body of water. _Gute Abfahrt_ is said before somebody goes down a slope on skis. _Guten Flug!_ means “have a nice flight”, _Guten Ritt!_ means “may you not fall off that horse!” (more or less). _Gute Reise_ just means “have a nice journey”; there is simply no reference to the mode of transport there. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/6 "2022-06-23T15:25:50Z")
And _Fart de Ski_ is French for _ski wax_. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/7 "2022-06-23T19:05:50Z")
I recall seeing the sign for hidden driveways, Achtung Ausfahrt, while driving in rural Switzerland. To me, it sounded hilarious. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/8 "2022-06-23T20:11:51Z")
> [@Anaglyph](#): > > And don’t offer a “Gift” to a German, as this would be Poison. Just dropping in to point out that the two are, in fact, etymologically related. They both go back to a Germanic root (present in both German and English) meaning “to give”. From that sense, it was used to refer to a dose of a drug that would be administered to a person; and from there, “Gift” acquired its modern German meaning of “poison”. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/9 "2022-06-23T20:35:47Z")
The one that I always notice (and worry that it might cause confusion at an inopportune time) is “Notausgang”, which an English speaker might read as “No Exit” when in fact it means “Emergency Exit”. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2022, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/10 "2022-06-23T23:01:42Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I recall seeing the sign for hidden driveways, Achtung Ausfahrt, while driving in rural Switzerland. To me, it sounded hilarious. Yeah, the regular sign for “Exit” reads “Ausfahrt” on the (German) Autobahn, and I have read about people from abroad wondering where this magic city of “Ausfahrt” is located. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/11 "2022-06-24T00:01:23Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Yeah, the regular sign for “Exit” reads “Ausfahrt” on the (German) Autobahn See referances to Exit/Ausfahrt in [Are You Being Served](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfPjMSLiBTg). ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/12 "2022-06-24T02:51:38Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > Yeah, the regular sign for “Exit” reads “Ausfahrt” on the (German) Autobahn, and I have read about people from abroad wondering where this magic city of “Ausfahrt” is located. Heheh, NOMEANSNO titled one of their records _All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt_ > **[All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Roads_Lead_to_Ausfahrt)** > > All Roads Lead to Ausfahrt is the tenth and final studio album by Vancouver punk rock band Nomeansno. It was released by the band's own Wrong Records imprint, in conjunction with AntAcidAudio in North America and Southern Records in Europe, making it their first record not to be released by the Alternative Tentacles imprint since Mama in 1982. The album marked a return to shorter and more conventional songs than their previous efforts, Dance of the Headless Bourgeoisie (1998) and One (2000). No... ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/13 "2022-06-24T02:57:18Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I recall seeing the sign for hidden driveways, Achtung Ausfahrt, while driving in rural Switzerland. To me, it sounded hilarious. Sounds like a good name for a character in a Mel Brooks film. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 9:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/14 "2022-06-24T09:50:07Z")
Deleted ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_the_turtle/32/2926_2.png) [@Fear\_the\_Turtle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_the_Turtle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/15 "2022-06-24T14:47:20Z")
I do motorcycle tours with an Austrian based company (Edelweiss Bike Travel) and can attest to decals affixed to their bikes and vans that read “Gute Fahrt”. It’s kind of funny as all of their tours guides are at least bilingual (English/German) so they all know the English words ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-for-german-speakers/966677/16 "2022-06-24T14:55:28Z")
> [@Anaglyph](#): > > “Mist” is German for manure - If your German friend calls out “So ein Mist” he is not commenting on the weather, but calls out bullshit. That was the reason that the Rolls Royce Silver Shadow wasn’t called Silver Mist as planned. Luckily, one guy in the Rolls Royce marketing team knew a little German and made the others aware that the name would cause problems on the German market. > **[Test your knowledge: What forced Rolls-Royce into a rethink over the name...](https://www.driving.co.uk/news/test-your-knowledge-what-forced-rolls-royce-into-a-rethink-over-the-name-silver-mist/)** > > Rolls Royce decided not to call its 1965 luxury car the Silver Mist, instead changing it to Silver Shadow. Why?