Explanation: Germans used to (apparently only in my bubble) call cellphones “Handy” and many people still do that. My friends from america found that quite hilarious.
We still call them so.
Using "so"instead of “that”. This guy germans.
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Thus so is so or deshalb and also is auch. Yep, it gets confusing.
Yes. Or even composition of words. I remember during a class discussion translating “Thanksgiving” as “Danksgebung” on the fly. At least I greatly entertained my professor—and I’ll never forget “Erntedankfest”.
When I was doing my exchange year in sweden I had a german teach us swedish in english. It took me while until I realised that instead dictonary she kept saying wordbook.
Yup, slipup.
Naja. So ist es wenn man eine Fremdsprache spricht. Ich genieße nur diese Momenten wenn ich sie identifizieren kann. 😁
“Used to call”? No?!
Most people in my bubble stopped saying that. They usually just say “smartphone” now.
Well you have basically three options in my bubble.
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Handy
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Wischkästla (translates roughly to swipe box)
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Mobiltelefon (mobile phone) this one needs to be pronounced very precisely in order to get the sarkasm of using the old correct German word.
Wischkästla
What kind of demonic incantation is this?
Kind regards,
- Someone from Schleswig-HolsteinWe frankonians just like to call things differently.
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With my peers it’s mostly just “phone” nowadays. Likely because landline phones are really rare now.
phone
You mean, your German peers literally use the English word ‘phone’ or do they say ‘Telefon’?
They say “Telefon”.
I also do that but I think „Handy“ is still the most common term. When there is any need for clarification for what you mean by „phone“, „handy“ will clear it up for everyone.
Definitely still the most widely used word. I guess it is changing because the younger generations speak better English in general and prefer using correct words.
I feel that mostly older folks still use the term? Maybe it’s just my friends and I. Ever since I realized what it means in english-speaking countries, I stopped saying it.
Maybe, I’m wrong. But again, I rarely hear the term “Handy” any more.
Ever since I realized what it means in english-speaking countries, I stopped saying it.
Why? Why would it matter what a word means if interpreted via another language? I mean, you go ahead and do what you want, I don’t care, but I’d like to understand the reasoning behind that.
Because I use english during most of the day. Many of my friends are from abroad and only speak english. I consume a lot of content in english, etc.
And in German, I’d even prefer Mobiltelefon over Handy. Ever since I know that “Handy” could be interpreted as “Handjob” in the US, it feels really stupid to use this word. To me, the word now feels like a “boomer invention” and even though it’s in the Duden, I don’t consider it to be correct any more. At least for my own language. There are several words in the German and English languages that fit better.
I don’t understand why it’d be hard to understand that.
It’s not “hard to understand”, I was just interested in your reasons because I thought it was curious. I still don’t agree that it’s a big deal - I also consume mostly English-language media and most of my communication online is in English but I’m still typing this on my Handybildschirm. But you do you.
Sent from my Handy.
FWIW, “handy” in the sense of “handjob” isn’t that common (U.S., over 25). I mostly hear it and use it in the sense of “useful, good to have or know.” That’s pretty handy, that could come in handy.
Plus, I can’t imagine I would ever interpret Handy as a handjob if you pronounced it the German way (Hendy). I would just go “huh” because that doesn’t register as a word in English. I’ve been told that the vowels in the German Handy and the English handy sound really similar to native German speakers. But as a native English speaker, they’re worlds apart.
Not trying to change your mind or anything. Just thought I’d give you a different perspective.
Im old aparently, :(
But fax is still relevant
would you use the german equivalent of the work handy or the actual english word handy? and if so whats that word, could you use it in a sentence lol
“Ich habe mein Handy verloren.” “I lost my cellphone.”
Weird. Everyone I know calls it Handy. I do not think that is ever going to change.
Maybe. Again, most people (except old people) in my friends circle has stopped calling it like that. Why? I don’t know. But I definitely noticed it.
I’m sure this is where the joke about Germans being overly friendly came from.
Its not your bubble, when I learnt German Handy was the word for phone they taught me
I may be wrong regarding that it isn’t widely used any more.
And yes, it was the first word I learned for mobile phone, too.
It is still very common
Oh whats most commonly used now?
idk what circles you guys live in but I grew up in rural south and been living a decade in Berlin. If a German talks to a German and they are not doing nerd talk and are just commoners having a chat they have been and still are using the word “handy”. It still is the most commonly used word to describe a mobile phone in German language
Ok good I was afraid my vocabulary was out of date
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That’s quite funny because over here in Czechia we call them mobil
i can confirm that in (the german-speaking parts of) switzerland “handy” is the only word i’ve ever heard used to describe a smartphone
My parents recently got a hummingbird feeder and my dad was bragging about how many “Hummers” he was getting in the yard.
If he gets his handy from your mother, he can tell the internet about all the hummers he’s getting.
His feeder brings all the Hummers to the yard.
Very sweet
Duolingo says it’s handy, and I have no reasons to doubt my green master
Er… I mean teacher!
Listen, guys. I lived in Germany for my entire life and even though I know that “Handy” is common, I’m trying to say that I personally don’t hear it nearly as often as I used to a couple years ago.
So what do Germans use nowadays?
Apparently, “handy”. In my group, it’s usually “smartphone”.
It’s like people are trolling, everyone calls it a handy because that is what it is called.
I think he meant Natel.
(I hope anyone here gets this…)
Swiss?
🫡 aye
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I’m into some of that Gay SM as well.
Duolingo is insistent on calling it a handy. It does my head in.
It is the correct term. I would just like to know who came up with that?
The term ‘Handy’ for mobile phones started to become common around 1992. There are various different theories about the origin of the term but none of them has been conclusively proven.
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In WW2 Motorola produced a Handie-Talkie (SCR-536) that could actually be hold in your hand (the famous Walkie-Talkie was strapped to your back). There have been plenty of successors with the same name but researchers doubt that this was really that widely known at the beginning of the 90s. Yet, one of the first GSM phones by Loewe was subsequently named HandyTel 100.
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German-speaking CB radio circles used the term already before 1992 for hand-held transceivers. There are actually magazines and other things from as early as 1986 where the term is used.
It must have spilled over from these circles to maybe a marketing department (Telekom claims it was theirs, without prove though) to public consciousness.
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Our German family also calls them handys.
Did you also tell them about “handy flats” in Germany? (Flatrate für Smartphones)
That word will never not remind me of this hilarious Stephen Fry bit from QI 😂
Beat me to it.
Beat meat to it haha gottem
I can’t not hear him say it in the camp German accent impression he does
In Switzerland we also say Natel.
To add a few more details: Natel is short for “Nationales Autotelefon”, which means national car phone. And existed as a brand since the 1970s.
