New Words

So. I woke up and still felt awful. Doctor's Appointment booked straight away - if you're ill for three days you need to get a certificate from a doctor to say that you're ill. So I had a short appointment with the doctor who pronounced me full of phlegm and sneezes and soreness and I can stay at home until Monday.

And here he gave me your German word for the day :-

eine Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung. I'll break that down for you "arbeit" is "work", "unfähig" is unfit and "Bescheinigung" is certificate or attestation. The "s" after "Arbeit" and "unfähig" is a genitive s but you probably knew that.

German compound nouns are terrific things. You can keep bolting nouns together to describe things - I suspect not a day goes by on any newspaper where they don't coin a new word or two.

For the curious, the longest German words are :

Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft or "Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services"

or

Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz or "beef labeling supervision duties delegation law".

I could have a go with Peterswirklichunangenehmniesenundschwitzenundhustenkrankheit (Peter's really unpleasant sneezing and sweating and coughing illness) but it looks a bit amateurish with those "und"s in there.

Go easy with me, I'm not very well