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For or against headache?

I enjoyed learning this German sentence. I actually laughed out loud. In German you say Ich suche etwas gegen Kopfschmerzen, I'm looking for something 'against' headache. In order to cure our headache, we English-speakers look for something 'for' headache. Hmmm, I think the German makes more sense.

Sent by: Mary

Comments

Shox, UK 2009-03-27

Yeah I see what you mean, the German makes much more sense to me. I'm English so I don't really notice it as much but it's actually kind of funny.

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Anonymous 2009-02-16

It's exactly the same in Dutch:
Ik zoek iets tegen hoofdpijn, something "against" headache.

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Achaly 2008-09-24

Yes German is far more literal ....

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Halil Isbilici 2008-12-13

We have familiar idiom in Turkish: derdini söylemeyen, derman bulamaz, a problem shared is a problem halved.

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Julia 2007-11-27

Indeed, in German it makes much more sense. I'm from Brazil and here, it is just like English, we take pills "for" headache. Para dor de cabeça.

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Raju 2006-12-12

Yes I agree completely that German is more logical than English. This is also reflected in construction of some words like Durchfall, diarrhea, that something is falling through or Verstopfung, constipation, that something is blocked ... I mean for a laymen it is impossible to know from the English parallels what we are talking of ...

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Uschi 2006-03-04

I always thought it was funny that in the UK you were looking 'for' something so you could have dandruff.

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Jeannie 2006-02-02

It especially makes sense when you consider that so many headaches come from banging your head gegen die Wand, against the wall.

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Steve 2005-11-27

I think that's great! ;-)

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Pratama 2005-09-23

Yeah, I agree ... the German makes more sense ... :)

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