I've just seen an election poster which says "Verantwortung und Augenmaß" which literally translates into "Responsibility and quick'n'dirty measurement".
What does it mean in a political context?
Asked
Active
Viewed 1,719 times
17
-
8Note that "quick'n dirty" has a sense of sloppiness that Augenmaß does not (necessarily) have. It aims for good judgement, whether you talk about physical measurements or use the term in a metaphorical sense. – Stephie Feb 18 '16 at 07:20
-
1quick'n'dirty measurement in politics? come on – Alex Feb 18 '16 at 14:50
-
1@Alex I see what you did there... – OddDev Feb 18 '16 at 14:58
2 Answers
24
Augenmaß has two meanings, here the second fits:
- Fähigkeit, in angemessener Weise zu handeln; Besonnenheit, Umsicht
Beispiele
das rechte Augenmaß verloren haben
Politik mit Augenmaß (Besonnenheit, Realitätssinn)
So a very rough translation would be
"Responsibility and a sense of good judgement/appropriateness"
-
Ah, easy as that :) I felt like "Yeah, that fits somehow... but why?" It's clear now - thanks. – OddDev Feb 18 '16 at 07:21
-
1@OddDev it might be related to
to eyeball: To measure or estimate roughly by sight– overactor Feb 18 '16 at 11:50 -
-
1
-
While (very) close, 'Augenmaß' has a more professional co-notation than 'eyeballing' - Which roughly translates to 'Schätzen' – tofro Feb 20 '16 at 07:37
-5
"Augenmaß" means:
Just enough to reach the target, but not more as necessary. Easy said, the people want "bread and circuses", give it to them and they calm down.
In political context, it tells that i.e. the government will provide a service which is close to current needs.
Like initiating the infrastructure for free Wifi in city centres. This of course will be handled by telecommunication companies, but the people of a city asked their local politician for something like that, because the politician is closer to the base of people and easier to reach out.
Chris
- 64
- 1
-
1I've downvoted this because it seems to be more a guess about what politicians actually mean when they say it than what the phrase actually means. – sgf Feb 03 '17 at 11:46
-
1No, it does not mean "the bare minimum". We are discussing language, not politics. And from a language perspective, this answer is plain wrong. – Stephie Feb 03 '17 at 13:36
-
What does it mean in a political context? it is asked in a political context, or am I wrong? – Chris Feb 03 '17 at 14:37
-
Well, no, but you're not telling us what it means in a political context in general, you're making guesses as to what politicians actually mean when they say it. That's not the same thing – sgf Feb 03 '17 at 19:39
-