Intercultural Word of the Week – Ohrwurm

Annoying song

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The German word Ohrwurm is one you definitely be subjected to if you come to the Dazzling Deutsch Disco at the #euramunich conference in April 2019…

“Dee dee da da dum… Saturday night and the air is getting hot…”

If you’re familiar with ’90’s Europop, you will now you will have that song in your head for the next couple of hours!  This is an Ohrwurm… English translation?  An “ear worm”, what in English would be referred to as an earwig – once it crawls into your ear it’s very hard to get it out again, just like the Whigfield song above, or any of the countless others.  For the positive use of the word, it translates as a catchy tune as in;

Der neue Song von Pharell Williams ist ein Ohrwurm …

The new song by Pharell Williams is a catchy tune…

However the phrase also has the more negative connotation as well! 

I cannot get this damn tune out of my head!

Mann, ich habe einen verdammten Ohrwurm

 

Dominic Tidey is the C.O.O. of EuRA, the European Relocation Association.  EuRA is the professional industry body for relocation providers and affiliated services. As a non-profit organisation EuRA aims to promote the benefits of a professionally managed relocation to companies with globally mobile employees.

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Dom Tidey

Dominic Tidey is the C.O.O. of EuRA with specific responsibility for new projects, conferences, education programmes and research. EuRA is the association for relocation providers across the globe. We are a not-for-profit association run by our 500+ members in 95 countries. EuRA sets global standards for relocation through our MIM Professional Qualification and our EuRA Global Quality Seal, an ISO based independent audit programme for mobility providers. Dominic has worked with EuRA since 1998 having studied law at university and working in social services. In 2003 he completed his masters degree and returned to EuRA as Operations Manager, spearheading the development of the EARP and later, the EuRA Global Quality Seal and most recently, the MIM online training programme.

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