"Pop culture loves a loanword, and German is arguably the GOAT when it comes to words so hyperspecific in mood and meaning that they cannot exist outside their culture of origin. Schadenfreude, obviously. Zeitgeist is useful. And I personally enjoy kummerspeck, which is the German term for the weight you gain from sad-snacking. (The literal translation is a humdinger: "grief bacon.")"
"This week's episode of Industry introduced me to habseligkeiten, which is explained to Yasmin as "the possessions closest to your soul." At least on paper, habseligkeiten are the objects carried by fleeing refugees or the shards of sea glass in a child's pocket; it's a word associated with the less fortunate. And come to think of it, that's how the Bauers see themselves, now that their 300-year-old bank is being taken over by Tender, a company with a short history of making cottage-industry porn possible."
"In "Habseligkeiten," we find mother and son - Johanna and Moritz - holed up in a Tyrolean schloss with their heritage gilets, their dodgy politics, and a few small landscapes by a mediocre painter who once destroyed the world. The Bauers are the first of two hurdles Henry needs to clear as Tender's new CEO if he wants the erstwhile payment processor to succeed as a commercial bank."
German loanwords capture moods and meanings unavailable in other languages. Kummerspeck denotes weight gained from sad-snacking. Habseligkeiten means the possessions closest to one's soul, often the meager objects carried by refugees or treasured fragments in a child's pocket. The Bauer family clings to habseligkeiten as they lose control of their 300-year-old bank to Tender, a company with a short history of enabling cottage-industry pornography and whose predecessors benefited from the Bauers' financing of Hitler. Johanna and Moritz shelter in a Tyrolean schloss with inherited trappings and compromised politics. Henry must win the Bauers and secure regulatory approval from the Prudential Regulation Authority. Yasmin functions as Henry's awkward consultant and informal life coach.
Read at Vulture
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