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.
What is a handy in the US?
A handjob. Better don’t ask anyone for a handy.
Py peer review:
I have a bro in the US @Zengen@social.fossware.space. He visited me a couple times in Germany (even for my wedding) and I visited him in the US two times. Last time with my wife and my kids, in April. When we explained to his family what a Handy is in Germany, they all laughed and this is what ultimately led me to the creation of this meme.
Also, he and I frequently make jokes about it.
this is xool, best usage for the word i know of ^^
Ich, ein Auslander: “Wie sagst Man ‘Hand’ auf Deutsch? … Ach, ja.”
Reminds me of my first day studying abroad in Germany and trying to ask a random guy at the train station to borrow his lighter.
Me, miming lighting a cigarette: “Wie sagt man—” Him: “Man sagt FEUER!”
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
I’m sure this is where the joke about Germans being overly friendly came from.
We still call them so.
Using "so"instead of “that”. This guy germans.
Yup, slipup.
Naja. So ist es wenn man eine Fremdsprache spricht. Ich genieße nur diese Momenten wenn ich sie identifizieren kann. 😁
As a German. The way you phrase sentences is so similar in both languages at times that it becomes so damn easy to create a sentence which might sound reasonable at first glance, yet doesn’t make any sense if you think about it and/or have a “deep” understanding of thr English language.
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.
Thus so is so or deshalb and also is auch. Yep, it gets confusing.
My German family still does too
I found this out as a visitor when a local told me I could get a handy at the T-Mobile store. I was like “for real? I only saw kids working in there. That’s kinda gross.”
Removed by mod
I’m into some of that Gay SM as well.
My parents recently got a hummingbird feeder and my dad was bragging about how many “Hummers” he was getting in the yard.
His feeder brings all the Hummers to the yard.
Very sweet
If he gets his handy from your mother, he can tell the internet about all the hummers he’s getting.
Ich geb dir nicht mein Mobiles Telefon, kauf selber eins!!!elf
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”.
Did you also tell them about “handy flats” in Germany? (Flatrate für Smartphones)
Our German family also calls them handys.
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?
If you wanna be some kind of german elitist and avoid english words, no matter the cost. You could also say “Mobiltelefon”. Or “mobile phone” (so basically the bri’ish word)
That’s quite funny because over here in Czechia we call them mobil
In my friend circle, it’s usually just “phone”.
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
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
In Switzerland we also say Natel.
I didn’t know that.
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.