German word of the day: Mist

If you hear a German exclaim “Mist!” your first inclination might be to look out the window to see if there is indeed fog forming in the distance. 

But most likely you’re hearing a false friend, since this popular proclamation is the simple English equivalent of “crap!” Or “shoot!” in American English or “bother!” for the Brits. 

In other words, it’s a toned-down word for some of our other four-letter favourites in English, or one that would be acceptable to say around small children or your Oma.

READ ALSO: How (and when) to swear like a German

Der Mist is also used to describe anything that's worthless and needs to be disposed of, or something nonsensical. A person might say, in a self-deprecating manner, "Ich rede den ganze Tag nur Mist" (I'm talking crap the whole day).

It would also be a prime word to have in your vernacular if you happen to be working on a farm, where it's simply used to refer to animal dung.

And if you do actually want to describe fog, that word would be Nebel.

Where does it originate?

You might be surprised that this widely used word dates all the way back to the 8th century. Back then, peasants likely weren't proclaiming "Was für ein Mist!" (Oh sh*t!) when they stubbed their toes, but rather using mistunna to describe a dung heap. This evolved into the Middle German word Misthaufen, which is still used today and has the same meaning.

At least in the past, this Misthaufen was also a status symbol. The bigger the dung heap, the richer the farmer. If you had enough Mist, you didn't have to buy anything, and could simply reap everything in your own fertile soil. The longstanding proverb “Das ist nicht auf seinem Mist gewachsen” (That didn't grow on his dung) means that something isn’t original: the idea didn't come from a specific person (or his cultivation-assisting crap).

Another strange-sounding saying, still used today in more rural areas, is "Heirat' übern Mist, dann weißt', wo du bist." (If you marry over the dung, you know who you are). This "marrying over the dung" means marrying into the immediate neighbourhood, or one dung heap further.

Here are more examples of how it’s used:

Ich werfe den ganzen Mist weg.

I'm throwing all the crap away.

Mist! Habe ich mir mit dem Hammer auf den Finger gehauen.

Crap! I hit my finger with a hammer!