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A description of compound nouns will surely be a nice asset to our “Grammar Review” blog post category, and will be an equally valuable asset to this similar category in your brain.  Anyone who has observed a high school German class, or a similar atmosphere, has undoubtedly heard questions similar to, “Yo! What’s with all this German smashing words together like they’re one word stuff…you going out with your girlfriend tonight man?”  Although probably oblivious to the fact that girlfriend is a compound noun (a noun made up of multiple words…here… girl and friend), this student’s frustration can be understandable.  He might not realize that he is sitting in front of a blackboard and about to do a makeup exam.  And because he didn’t study hard enough in his bedroom he is about to have a nervous breakdown.

Yes, compound nouns are one of the many similarities between German and English, both Germanic languages.  If the purpose of this post was to expose you to a variety of compound nouns in both German and English, I would begin doing this right now.  But it’s not!  The sole purpose of this post is to demonstrate that, when it comes to compound nouns, German liquidates English like a snowman stuck in a greenhouse.  (*I know this is not a proper use of liquidate, but it’s worth it in this case.)  And the purpose of this post will now be summed up in one word:

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft

Click above at your own risk!!!! If it doesn’t work smoothly, you are probably using Internet Explorer and shouldn’t be… Goodbye!

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