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.
Duolingo says it’s handy, and I have no reasons to doubt my green master
Er… I mean teacher!
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.
In Lebanon, “Handy” means a cordless landline.
In the US, it’s apparently a handjob.
Duolingo is insistent on calling it a handy. It does my head in.
I already noticed that Duolingo isn’t very good for learning languages after taking a glance at it’s Japanese course. I need to take a look at the German one, as well.
It’s not that bad. The problem is that as you reach the later stages it often wants one particular (sometimes incorrect) answer, when multiple alternatives are correct or better.
So, for example, I’m a dutch native speaker, and sailed through the duolingo course until the later stages. Then it gets pretty bad and I got bored of trying to complete it.
Use duolingo for the basic stuff, but it’s not the same as a language course.
Oh that’s interesting. Do you mind sharing why you scorn the Japanese course? It was my initial course and then I switched to German and have been doing it for a couple of years
Duolingo in general isn’t very good for learning a language. Their approach doesn’t work because what explanation there is is sparse and not in depth enough. They expect the user to recognise patterns on their own but that frequently causes people to see patterns that aren’t there and to misunderstand grammar points. It might be an okay-ish tool to practice what you already know.
If you were successful with Duolingo, congrats, you were lucky.
Duolingo leans very heavily into memory based learning. I would love to see us do away with this model, but it’s what they do in schools.
That said, I have basic reading and writing comprehension after two years, so it’s not all bad. I still believe a toddler would best me though.
The Japanese is just very unnatural and sometimes even wrong.
It I pick it back up, maybe I’ll opt for an alternative server then 😂
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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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.”
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 ^^
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
Me neither 😂
Hallo und welcome to the BAHftas!
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”.
Our German family also calls them handys.
Ich geb dir nicht mein Mobiles Telefon, kauf selber eins!!!elf
I think he meant Natel.
(I hope anyone here gets this…)
Swiss?
🫡 aye
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!”
Removed by mod
I’m into some of that Gay SM as well.
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?
In my friend circle, it’s usually just “phone”.
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
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
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
