Saturday, April 7, 2012

Aprilwetter

As I write this, outside my window in Berlin it's both blindingly sunny – and hailing. Last week, we had a day where it rained, sort of slushy-snow-rained and then also hailed, but all interspersed with periods of bright sunlight.

In German, fittingly enough, they call this "Aprilwetter" – April weather. When my students try to use the phrase in English, I tell them we don't exactly use that phrase, but might just call it typical spring weather.

Anyone care to weigh in on whether I'm correct? This is the kind of thing where, the longer I live away from the U.S., the less I can claim to be 100% sure about what we "actually" say.

(Or, in Ohio for example, we just called it typical Ohio weather! I'm sure in England, Scotland, etc. they say the same but, you know, for England or Scotland or etc.)

3 comments:

  1. Haha, I was going to comment on this and say we call it "typical Ohio weather" but then you beat me to it! :)

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  2. Comment, second try: In Kindergarden we learn the short rhyme "April, April, der macht was er will" - I forgot the context, whether it is a child song or a poem.... David

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    Replies
    1. And in the US, we learn the rhyme "April showers bring May flowers" :)

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