Mishap
Malheur , French [ maˈlœʀ ], German [ maˈløːɐ̯ ], is a foreign word that comes from French and is used in the German language . The French malheur means something like "bad hour" (in contrast to bonheur , " luck ", literally "good hour"). Actually, it means a disaster event, but usually within the meaning of adversity or even accident needed - at least always in conjunction with an event and not a prolonged state - not based on the absence or lack of luck, as the "unhappiness" or the losing streak.
For example, someone who has had a minor mishap is simply unlucky - whether they tripped or been robbed, whether they missed the train or lost their house keys; in the case of small children: pissed themselves off. "Malheur" is used even more often in a mitigating ( euphemistic ) way, for example as a consolation : "This is just a mishap!"
In some German dialects there are also verbs derived from it, such as vermalören (e.g. in Volga German ) for "to put something in the sand". In the Cologne pronunciation , e Malörche does not mean an illegitimate child.
In southern Germany, depending on the area, Malheur is also used as a synonym for illness-related pain, e.g. B. "I have a mishap with my knee!"
See also
- Malheur County
- Malheur National Forest
- Malheur River
- Lapse
- gaffe
- Affront
- Put one's foot in one's mouth
literature
- Sigmund Freud : On the psychopathology of everyday life. About forgetting, promising, grasping, superstition and error. Fischer Taschenbuch, Frankfurt am Main 2009, ISBN 978-3-596-90178-4 (= Fischer Klassik. 90178).
- Ulf Heuner: Mistakes, breakdowns, mishaps. The first survival book. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2007, ISBN 978-3-608-94447-1 .
