This verb is a clever piece of German wordplay, formed from the verb erklären, meaning âto explainâ, and the noun Herr, which means sir, gentleman or Mr.
Herrklären, as you might have guessed, translates to the colloquial English term âmansplainingâ, which is when a person (usually a man) is explaining something in a patronising or condescending way to someone (often a woman) who already knows about it.
This verb also gives us the noun die Herrklärung, or âthe mansplainingâ.
As wonderful as this word is, however, it was never widely popular, with its occasional use by German newspapers the only real evidence that it exists at all.
The difference between Herrklären and Erklären might be perfectly clear on paper, but it is much more difficult to hear this difference in conversation.
Because of this, many Germans found it easier to just import the English word into German, and so you are much more likely to hear das Mansplaining than die Herrklärung.
The debate over the use of patronising language in Germany was reignited recently, when a Tagesspeigel journalist chose to describe 41-year-old Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as âdiese junge Dameâ (this young ladyâ), going on to suggest that she seemed uncomfortable in her environment, and that the political world was not for her. This came as she visited Ukraine during the tense days before Russiaâs invasion on February 24th.
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Examples:
Warum herrklärst/mansplainst du meinen Computer? Ich weiĂ, wie es funktioniert!
Why are you mansplaining my computer? I know how it works!
Dieser Journalist hat gerade Mansplaining gemansplaintâŚ
This journalist just mansplained mansplainingâŚ
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