20

One of my German teachers taught me this very cool word. My current teacher didn't know it.

How widely used is the term Treppenwitz? Is it something that most Germans know?

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treppenwitz

Thomas
  • 2,961
  • 10
  • 26
Arjuna Deva
  • 533
  • 4
  • 9
  • It seems that in french, it is an escalated joke? (l’esprit de l’escalier) – mathreadler Apr 15 '19 at 08:04
  • 2
    About as widely known as the English equivalent, staircase wit, I would assume. :-þ – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 15 '19 at 10:22
  • 8
    Never heard it by anyone, also not read or seen in books or tv ... – OcK Apr 15 '19 at 12:30
  • 2
    know yes, use no. It's a very rarely used word but most Germans will understand (roughly) what you mean. – Tom Apr 16 '19 at 09:08
  • 4
    I hate this word. That's because even as a 50 years old former newspaper journalist and now education manager, I have no idea what it should mean. It is, however, used, relatively often, but typically in a way suggesting that the user also does not know what it means, just uses it by way of cliché. – Christian Geiselmann Apr 16 '19 at 10:59
  • A problem arises from the fact that 'Witz' is seldom used in it's meaning of 'witty spirit / esprit' anymore - 'Witz' is almost exclusively used as 'joke' now. So people hearing 'Treppenwitz' believe it is some specific form of joke, like 'Blondinenwitz' means 'jokes about blondes'. This is compounded by it's usage in 'Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichte' (meant to convey that people reevaluate history) - this would have better been 'Treppenwitz der Weltgeschichtler (historians)' or 'Treppenwitz zur Weltgeschichte (about history)' as history is supposed to be the object of that wit, here. – bukwyrm Apr 17 '19 at 07:26
  • Not only Germans know it. I'm not German but I still know this term. I think the percentage of Austrian and Swiss people who know this term is quite the same as of Germans. – Hubert Schölnast Apr 17 '19 at 19:58

4 Answers4

44

From my experience, most people have heard of the term, but don't neccessarily know the exact and/or correct meaning. And "Treppenwitz" also isn't regularily used in day-to-day conversations, either.

Henning Kockerbeck
  • 19,098
  • 2
  • 41
  • 69
  • This is backed by the fact that the word has changed its meaning and is an example of Volksetymologie now. – Jonathan Scholbach Apr 15 '19 at 06:57
  • @jonathan.scholbach: true - I use the term often enough to know it's current meaning and not it's origin :-o – Shegit Brahm Apr 15 '19 at 07:14
  • 9
    I was going to mention that "Treppenwitz der Geschichte" is at least reasonably commonly used and googled for appearances. Well, apparently not even chancellor Merkel can get it right :/ https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/aktuelles-lexikon-treppenwitz-1.4192050 – smcs Apr 15 '19 at 07:44
  • I second this, most people have head the word, but never used it and only have a very vague idea of its meaning – Hobbamok Apr 15 '19 at 09:24
  • If you tell a joke about a blonde woman, it's a "Blondinenwitz". In the same way, if you told a joke about a stair case, you could also call it "Treppenwitz". However, stair cases aren't that funny. – R. Schmitz Apr 15 '19 at 09:39
  • 1
    Just as an anecdote: I learned "esprit d'escalier" from English usage and only then realised that "Treppenwitz" is the German equivalent. I had no clear idea of the meaning of the German word before that. – Carsten S Apr 15 '19 at 11:06
  • @smcs To be fair, Merkel studied Physics and not German ;-) I would say the knowledge about the original (some would say "correct") meaning of Treppenwitz is rather rare. – kap Apr 15 '19 at 15:59
  • I supposed it was a joke short enough to be told in small-talk to a neighbor on the stair-cases in an appartment-building. Thinking again, it could be a set of such short jokes that build up in an escallating fashion, maybe with after-burn: wie heißt es, wenn es bei einer Frau im Schritt brennt? Buschbrand! that's so lame. Und wie heißt es, wenn es bei einem Mann im Schritt brennt? Willibrandt! Badum-tss! --That was Stephan Raab on TV Total. – vectory Jun 01 '19 at 09:32
15

How widely used is the term Treppenwitz? Is it something that most Germans know?

I'd say that every reasonably educated native speaker of German does of course know the Treppenwitz der Geschichte, but that no one or nearly no one would use Treppenwitz alone. Hence, a sentence like Na, das war ja ein Treppenwitz! is unlikely. In a case like that, people would rather say: Ach, warum ist mir das nicht vorhin eingefallen?

anti-enigma
  • 83
  • 3
  • 27
    I've never heard of Treppenwitz der Geschichte before. So apparently I have to reconsider my level of education :P – sebrockm Apr 15 '19 at 11:53
  • 7
    I (being Austrian) have never heard this word ever before. And I do consider myself reasonably educated. – michi7x7 Apr 15 '19 at 13:57
  • 1
    Anyways, if you search for uses online, you will find that it is mostly used with a strangely unclear meaning: http://corpora.informatik.uni-leipzig.de/de/res?word=Treppenwitz – michi7x7 Apr 15 '19 at 14:04
  • 6
    I've known the term Treppenwitz der Geschichte for a long time as a well educated German speaker. I once looked up the term Treppenwitz and understood it as a lack of spontaneity as an answer mentions: A joking remark you come up with after you left a room and are already using the stars (up/down/out of the house - whatever) – Bernhard Döbler Apr 15 '19 at 16:00
  • Not just native speakers. I'm just a fluent speaker and I know the term. – Rudy Velthuis Apr 15 '19 at 17:55
  • @michi7x7 Same here. I guessed at the meaning of Treppenwitz from knowing "l'esprit d'escalier", but I never heard it before, not even in the context of the larger phrase. – Sebastian Redl Apr 16 '19 at 06:25
  • 2
    "I'd say that every reasonably educated native speaker of German" As you can see by the comments of @sebrockm and michi7x7, this sentence does not hold. Also, it is offending and contemptuous. Please, rephrase that. – rexkogitans Apr 17 '19 at 12:38
8

Please note there are mainly two explanations of this word:

  1. Lack of spontaneity

  2. Sarcastic expression of something that went wrong in the past

I would say the second one is the most common understanding of the word nowadays and it is still used here and there, I would not say it is old or outdated. Your question is very opinion based and hard to tell in detail without statistical evidence. Maybe not all Germans know the detailed meaning however they might have heard this in their lifetime for sure.

This is the explanation I prefer:

Heute wird der Ausdruck Treppenwitz auch – abweichend von der ursprünglichen Bedeutung – für „Ironie des Schicksals“, „alberner Witz“ oder „unangemessenes, lächerliches Verhalten“ verwendet. So werden geschichtliche Begebenheiten, die – vor allem nachträglich – absurd oder ironisch wirken, als „Treppenwitz der Geschichte“ bezeichnet.

Rudy Velthuis
  • 2,605
  • 9
  • 18
Thomas
  • 2,961
  • 10
  • 26
7

Nietzsche erklärt Treppenwitz am schönsten. Daraus leitet er einen wunderschönen Begriff (Treppen-Glück):

„Wie der Witz mancher Menschen nicht mit der Gelegenheit gleichen Schritt hält, so dass die Gelegenheit schon durch die Türe hindurch ist, während der Witz noch auf der Treppe steht: so gibt es bei anderen eine Art von Treppen-Glück, welches zu langsam läuft, um der schnellfüssigen Zeit immer zur Seite zu sein: das Beste, was sie von einem Erlebnis, einer ganzen Lebensstrecke zu geniessen bekommen, fällt ihnen erst lange Zeit hinterher zu, oft nur als ein schwacher, gewürzter Duft, welcher Sehnsucht erweckt und Trauer — als ob es möglich gewesen wäre — irgendwann — in diesem Element sich recht satt zu trinken: nun aber ist es zu spät.” Menschliches, Allzumenschliches II, Friedrich Nietzsche, 1879

(Hervorhebung von mir)

c.p.
  • 30,753
  • 21
  • 105
  • 229