20 May 2012: Spanner

20 Mai: Stalker, Spanner from kate hers on Vimeo.

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Stalker, der Spanner

Closest English Translation: stalker, peeping tom

Literal Translation: voyeur?

19 May 2012: Self-imposed Punishment #4 Federfuchser

18 Mai: Federfuchser from kate hers on Vimeo.

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Federfuchser

Closest English Translation: pedant, perfectionist, dogmatist

Literal Translation:feather guy?

 

18 May 2012: Macker

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Macker

Closest English Translation: Alpha male, male chauvinist, guy who calls the shots, the boss

Literal Translation: alpha?

Thanks you so much Hanjo, for being the boss/guy who calls the shots/alpha male in my video and Hyo-Jin Shin, the caring friend, and Askold, who shot the video.

Macker in English is slightly different – it’s still a male who thinks he’s the shit, but who hits on or tries to seduce someone, usually by cheesy means. “He macked on me all evening, but I told him to get lost.”

17 May 2012: Hanswurst

17 Mai: Hanswurst from kate hers on Vimeo.

Location: Berlin, Germany, Potsdamer Platz, Wurstbude

Word or Expression: der Hanswurst

Closest English Translation: Tomfool, Wiener

Literal Translation: Hans (like the German name) Sausage

A Hanswurst is someone who no one takes seriously.

He says, “I am not Hanswurst. I am Hans Joachim!”

Thanks you so much Hanjo, for being the tomfool in my video!

This video is also participating in a new interactive project called capsuling.me. Check it out!

16 May 2012: Schweinehund

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Schweinehund

Closest English Translation: swine, pig, jerk

Literal Translation:Pig dog

15 May 2012: Arschkrampe

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Arschkrampe

Closest English Translation: butthead, buttmunch, asswipe

Literal Translation: Ass cramp/crank/staple

Beavis and Butthead seemed a pretty obvious example – keep their image in your head when you wanna use Arschkrampe.

14 May 2012: Grobmotoriker

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Grobmotoriker

Closest English Translation: butterfingers, klutz, oaf, lug

Literal Translation: Rough motor skills person, clumsy person

In this video, I was obviously inspired by one of the English translation – butterfingers.

13 Mai 2012: Kunstbanause

Learning Category: Bad Words/Insults

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Kunstbanause

Closest English Translation: Philistine

Literal Translation: art barbarian?

Did you notice the clever play on words Kunst Banana – Art Banana?

Andy Warhol created the banana for the Velvet Underground’s album cover, The Velvet Underground & Nico, released in 1967. This year 2012, the Velvet Underground sued the Andy Warhol Foundation over trademark infringement.

“In this instance, does the public associate the image with the Velvet Underground or with Andy Warhol?”

Please give your opinion on this topic if you like below!

12 May 2012: Self-imposed punishment #3 Rampensau

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: Rampensau

Closest English Translation: fame-whore

Direct Translation: ramp pig

Yes, I know. I suck. I missed my video again. This self-imposed punishment is a 15 minute long screen test of myself- which references the film by Andy Warhol called Henry Geldzahler. I call this my fame-whore video – auf deutsch, “Rampensau.” Of course, this 15 minute screen test is evoking the Warhol quote, “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”

This is an interesting question for myself. Do I want to be world famous? Not really. But I continue to generate this work of art which puts me into a type of public cyberspace. What compels me to do so even though I am quite tormented when I see images and videos of myself online? Why do I continue to broadcast one video a day for one year? How does this relate to the construction of a personal, cultural, social-political sense of self? Please, I welcome your remarks and questions.

11 May 2012: Toilettentieftaucher TTT

Location: Berlin, Germany

Word or Expression: der Toilettentieftaucher, TTT

Closest English Translation: toilet deep diver, swirly victim

Literal Translation: toilet deep diver

The meaning of this word had me a little confused, I thought it was someone who prays to the porcelain God. However, apparently it is a name you would call someone who you would give a swirlie/swirley/swirly to. So, Germans have an actually name for the swirly victim!

Urban Dictionary: A form of torture/punishment in which the victim is held upside down over a toilet, with his head in the toilet bowl, while it is flushed. Variations on this theme include holding a long-haired person over the toilet so that the hair merely rotates with the draining water or completely immersing the victim’s head in the water.

Thanks to Sea Yang and Giovanni Frazzetto for helping me create this ridiculous video.