Words, Terms & Phrases: False friends: mist & Mist

Since German and English both belong to the family of Germanic languages, there are many word similarities between them, e.g. trinken - to drink, Butter - butter, Milch - milk, grün - green. These similarities enable you to recognize words you may have never seen or heard before. But you will also come across a few "false friends", German words that look or sound like English words but mean something completely different.

 

Here is one famous example. Look at the two pictures and you will probably realize why a German tourist in Dublin who speaks little English may be surprised when s/he comes across a bottle of "Irish Mist" in the Duty Free Shop.

 

Fill in the gap, then press [Check] to see if you were right. Use the [Hint] button to get a free letter if the answer is giving you trouble.

morning mist

Mist

The English word "mist" refers to a cloud of tiny water droplets which are suspended in the earth, a phenomenon that often occurs early in the morning in autumn. The German word "Mist" means "" in English, something that is produced by cows and used as fertilizer. That's why Germans often say "So ein Mist!" if some mishap occurred.
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Tip: If you don't belong to the lucky few who possess a photographic memory, write down what you learnt while doing this exercise.

photo of morning mist: (CCO Creative Commons): https://pixabay.com/en/morning-mist-fog-landscape-nature-1535964/
other photo: (CCO Creative Commons): https://pixabay.com/en/cow-dung-flat-bread-dung-crap-2799656/