German word of the day: Der Fleischesser
Literally translating as “meat eater”, Fleischesser, unsurprisingly, describes a person who eats meat.
People’s diets are becoming an increasingly controversial, political topic. With the growing popularity of Veganismus (veganism) and vegetarische Lebensweise (vegetarian lifestyles) in German-speaking countries like Austria, meat consumption is on the decline. But Austria remains a nation of many Fleischesser.
It’s interesting to note that carnivorous animals are generally known as Fleischfresser. This is because animals tend to fressen and saufen, whereas people essen and trinken.
When fressen and saufen are used to refer to people, they tend to insinuate more uncivilized, animalistic behaviour, a bit like “to gorge” and “to booze” in English.
Examples:
Meine ganze Familie isst gar kein Fleisch, aber ich bin immer noch Fleischesser.
None of my family eats any meat, but I’m still a meat eater.
Fleischesser schaden ja die Umwelt
Meat eaters really hurt the environment.
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People’s diets are becoming an increasingly controversial, political topic. With the growing popularity of Veganismus (veganism) and vegetarische Lebensweise (vegetarian lifestyles) in German-speaking countries like Austria, meat consumption is on the decline. But Austria remains a nation of many Fleischesser.
It’s interesting to note that carnivorous animals are generally known as Fleischfresser. This is because animals tend to fressen and saufen, whereas people essen and trinken.
When fressen and saufen are used to refer to people, they tend to insinuate more uncivilized, animalistic behaviour, a bit like “to gorge” and “to booze” in English.
Examples:
Meine ganze Familie isst gar kein Fleisch, aber ich bin immer noch Fleischesser.
None of my family eats any meat, but I’m still a meat eater.
Fleischesser schaden ja die Umwelt
Meat eaters really hurt the environment.
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