# What is Freud's "Schlepp mich, ich gehen gern" phenomenon?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [February 9, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864 "2003-02-09T09:18:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864/1 "2003-02-09T09:18:07Z")

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It’s something that I came across in my reading (I forget where) about ten years ago. It was in a book or article written in English, and the German phrase was not translated or explained in any way. I have forgotten the context. I tried to find out what it was about back then, but had no luck.

My limited understanding of German suggests it literally means something like “Drag me, I go willingly”. (It doesn’t seem to parse; I would expect “gehe”, but my notes clearly say “gehen”). That’s a lot of words to say “ambivalence” so I’m guessing there’s more to it than that.

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**Author:** ![universe.zip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@universe.zip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/universe.zip)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864/2 "2003-02-09T10:46:55Z")

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Your translation is correct, and it should read “gehe” (it may have been a mistake in the original?).  
I understand it that way as well (German native), you want to do something/go somewhere but you still want to be dragged along, you want the initiative to come from someone else.  
(But I don´t know Freud, so I can´t tell. - But really, I only see one way to read that sentence. No ambivalence.)

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**Author:** ![Mr.Svinlesha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/22d042/32.png) [@Mr.Svinlesha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Svinlesha)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864/3 "2003-02-09T13:42:35Z")

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**bibliophage** :

How is it connected to Freud? Did he say it, or write it somewhere?

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**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\
**Post date:** [February 9, 2003, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-freuds-schlepp-mich-ich-gehen-gern-phenomenon/153864/4 "2003-02-09T14:31:17Z")

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Hmmm… independant of Freud, I often use the phrase, “She had me right where I wanted her.”

Please be sure and credit me. 🙂