In vollen Zügen genießen

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

MaxK — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 04:19:08 GMT

It can also mean "Enjoy living in crowded trains".

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Horst Kiehl — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 16:49:03 GMT

Today, smoking isn't allowed anymore in German trains. In the old days, you could sit in a crowded smokers compartment and have both!

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Chimik — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:43:39 GMT

@creaothceann

you're right, it can mean smoking as well.

And it is used ironically for travelling in crowded trains ;-)

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

j b — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 10:36:55 GMT

@JM: We have the same idiom in Norwegian as well, but the words are somewhat different, "å nyte i fulle drag" - and you cannot take a "drag" from your beer mug, but you *can* from your cigarette! Literally, "drag" means pull, like pulling fresh air ...or smoke... into your lungs.

And then, Zug -> tyge -> tug ... To "tygge" in Norwegian is to chew. Maybe that word has the same root as the German/Dutch word for "gulp"? Fascinating. If I had known better I should have been working with natural languges, not programming languages.

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Jonathan O'Connor — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:57:49 GMT

Raymond, the next time you are in Germany take the train to Leipzig. It's my favourite Hauptbahnhof. Fabulous old building, modernised with a 3-story shopping center.

The new berlin Hauptbahnhof is also not bad.

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

JM — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 07:39:54 GMT

@creaothceann: although it's nowadays used for cigarettes too, the word in its current meaning goes back to at least the 13th century.

@Ben: Twain might have been interested to know the word existed in Old English (no doubt a similarly crude language) as "tyge", from which we get "tug". Interestingly, in English you can still tug on your cigarette, but not on your beer mug -- in German (and Dutch) the word has come to be used for "gulp" too, but in English it's stayed closer to its roots.

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Engywuck — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:59:25 GMT

Oktoberfest culminates at *first* weekend in october. Except if it's on 1st or 2nd, then it culminates at the 3rd (Tag der deutschen Einheit (German Unity Day), a national holiday).

The reason why it starts in september is easy: in the beginning it lasted only one or a few days, and when they extended they extended in the direction of (usually) better weather :-)

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Steve D — Mon, 24 Sep 2012 06:19:33 GMT

Ah! Of course Oktoberfest has started. Hence the timing of this post. (Bonus chatter: Oktoberfest starts in September but does culminate at the last weekend in October - why wait any longer?).

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

creaothceann — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 23:14:57 GMT

I always thought the idiom was talking about smoking.

re: In vollen Zügen genießen

Ben — Sun, 23 Sep 2012 22:03:56 GMT

Note that "Zug" is among the most important German words if you believe Mark Twains essay about this crude language. I recommend that essay to everyone.