Made, rot, rein, Teller, Bier, dick, bin, flog

Als "false friends" fallen mir gerade eventuell - eventual, actual - aktuell ein.

Tag, Ton

alter, art, herd, hose, mode, page, plane, rain, rest, sage, see, sense, tee, war, was, wider

gift, chef, will

die fallen mir spontan ein, bin mir aber nicht sicher of F.F. oder F.E.

gaffer, dose, ring, roman, toll

angel, bake, bug, drum, glut, grab, gram, gut, herb, hold, lot, mist, mole, most, nun, rat, siege, sole, spur

after?

spanner, brief

These are great!! I never would've thought of most of them. Keep 'em coming!

bang, fell, fetter, fink, last
latte (for coffee, even though it is Italian)

anger, born, email, fade, fee, first, fond, fund, hall, hub, kitten, list, lose, mitten, same, span, stern, summer, taste, tor

handy

gehen auch:

stab, band, brand, post, den, doll (as in "das is ja doll". ok eher Umgangssprache aber vielleicht geht es ja auch??), beet, null??

tat, these, fort (?)

bog, log, rang
And how about the other word for a gorse bush, furze? (If I remember correctly; I won't comment on the German word)

fern, fast, fasten, happen, mark, rock, sure, tick, turner, wade

Klosett - closet?!

I don't know who's having more fun: me reading the responses, or those of you unearthing these great examples!

barren, turner, colt (?), boot, star (?), fix

maul

am, an, bad, base, fug, gar, grind, hob, lade, liege, links, lob, not, spare

moose,riff,pummel,rose,ire

stark

(with the help of http://www.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum/forum.c...)

gross

puff

muster, salve, spat, spring, stock, wort

posse

pup(s)

link ("Das ist aber link!")

von "jmdn. linken" (related discussion)

spurt, falter, heller

boot, leer, nut

Super! 174 words, and counting...

And coming down the home stretch, the crowd is on its feet as the athletes enter the stadium! It's stefan <at> in the lead and closing in fast on the finish line with Ingrid in 2nd place and Julius and ES right behind her, followed by chrissiek, Linda, Marc and Stefan in the next group, and Julia, karin, Ronald, t.n. and Moritz rounding out the field. What an exciting finish, folks! These athletes are really going all-out, giving it every word they have, what an effort--let's have a round of applause!

Here's the complete, unedited list so far, for your pleasure (and to make it easier to see if a word's been mentioned or not). More are always welcome!

after also alter am an angel anger art as back bad bake bald band bang barren base beet Bier bin bog boot born brand brief bug chef colt den dick die doll dose drum elf email fade fall falter fast fasten fee fell fern fetter fink first fix flog fond fort fug fund funk furze gaffer gar gift glut grab gram grind gross gut hall handy happen hat hell heller her herb herd hob hold hose hub hut ire kind kitten lade laden last latte leer lied liege link links list lob log lose lot mach Made mag man mark maul minder mist mitten mode mole moose most muster not null nun nut page plane posse post puff pummel pup pups rad rain rang rat rein rest riff ring rock roman rose rot sage salve same schmuck see sense siege sole span spanner spare spat spring spur spurt stab star stark stern stock summer sure Tag taste tat tee Teller these tick tier toll Ton tor tripper turner wade war was wider will wort

Great! It's the first time I'm the first in anything... ;o)

Ich fand die Beiträge in der "Falschen Feinde" List sehr amüsant. Vielen Dank, Peter, daß du diese Sache in Gang gebracht hast.

Zuerst hatte ich Schwierigkeiten mit "gar" (hab ich inzwischen in meinem 2-Pfund schweren Webster's Dictionary gefunden), und "mag" - bis mir "girly mag" eingefallen ist.

Hier ist meine Liste:

brat, fang, hang, gab, gib (ein technischer Ausdruck im Englischen, Bolzen oder sowas), hole, limo (Limo im Deutschen kurz für Limonade, im Amerikanischen kurz für Limousine)
mutter, singe, sold, talk, web, welt (wieder ein technischer Ausdruck, weiss nicht genau was es bedeutet, aber es steht im englischen Wörterbuch)

"Limo" war eine Idee von meinen Kindern, die bis zum Kindergartenalter in Deutschland gelebt haben, seitdem in den USA.

Noch ein lustige Beobachtung zum Thema "Falsche Feinde": Pizza Hut gibt es auch in vielen deutschen Städten. Der Name der amerikanischen Restaurant-Kette macht auch für deutsche Kinder Sinn: Fast jedes Pizza Hut Restaurant, in Deutschland wie in den USA, hat das charakteristische rote Dach, das aussieht wie - na klar, wie ein HUT !!

rand

dank

Found two more:
bat, ward ("er ward nie mehr gesehen")

wetter, pike, ruck, brat, just

pate, store, blank, pulli (plural of "pullus" = young bird in the downy stage!)

fester, gilt, hag, hart, lunge, lurch, regal, stuck, tang

trunk (The German version is rather old fashioned, but still in use: http://www.erbacher-brauhaus.de/trunk-1.htm)

main (German side is a river, not sure if this counts.)

lack

And for easier reference, the words given by Mirko in the thread about false friends that I consider false enemies instead:

artist(?), genial, labor, provision

[http://www.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum/forum.c...]

wart (Wo wart ihr gestern?)

Hamburger (as in opposite of Hamburgerin), stand, strafe, hummer (as in one who hums) - I'm digging deep now - that is the problem with reponding so late!

held

Blase (OK, it's blasé in English, but close!)
Fries
Gang
Glut
Heck

wand, tot, lag

bratling (E: a little brat, D: vegetarische Frikadelle)

Thanks to all the returning contributors, as well as to newcomers Hans, Linda, Terri, DirkDUS and Sue.

A note about accents, since Sue raised it: you definitely can include "blasé" or any word with an accent in either language, even if the other language doesn't have one (in your entry, please type the word that *does* have the accent).

In the most recent entries, there were two duplicates, and a few entries which may be more "Falsche Freunde" than Feinde. I've removed the duplicates but except for that, here's the complete uncensored list of 229 words as it now stands:

after also alter am an angel anger art artist as back bad bake bald band bang barren base bat beet Bier bin blank blasé bog boot born brand brat bratling brief bug chef colt dank den dick die doll dose drum elf email fade fall falter fang fast fasten fee fell fern fester fetter fink first fix flog fond fort fries fug fund funk furze gab gaffer gang gar genial gib gift gilt glut grab gram grind gross gut hag hall Hamburger handy hang happen hart hat heck held hell heller her herb herd hob hold hole hose hub hummer hut ire just kind kitten labor lack lade laden lag last latte leer lied liege limo link links list lob log lose lot lunge lurch mach Made mag main man mark maul minder mist mitten mode mole moose most muster mutter not null nun nut page pate pike plane posse post provision puff pulli pummel pup pups rad rain rand rang rat regal rein rest riff ring rock roman rose rot ruck sage salve same schmuck see sense siege singe sold sole span spanner spare spat spring spur spurt stab stand star stark stern stock store strafe stuck summer sure Tag talk tang taste tat tee Teller these tick tier toll Ton tor tot tripper trunk turner wade wand war ward wart was web welt wetter wider will wort

I will monitor this list permanently, even months (or years) later (so Leo Team--please don't archive, or if you archive it, please allow replies indefinitely). So, keep 'em coming!

strand

It's funny, I start looking through every text I'm reading to find these enemies:
blender, lobe

lager, loch, locker, lump.
Yes, I am working my way through the dictionary! Work is so much fun!

mass/maß (does that count?), mode, moll, moos, mops, most, mull, muss.

I noticed there's no "Q" in the list yet, so you better enter "Qualm" as well.

natter, pest (false friend?), plump (false friend?), Po (OK, I'm really pushing it with river names, but we did have 'main' earlier!)

wie sieht's aus mit:
Die Note - to note
Das Ass/er, sie, es aß - the ass (sorry)

It's OK, chrissiek, because an ass is also an animal like a donkey, not only a North American word for the posterior... Anyway, I have a couple more:
quote (another Q!)
raps
Now it's time to go home. Tschussi!

Some more:
male, bade, wage, met, turn, lore, leg, lager
and, if it counts, spree (the river thru Berlin)

Probe, dies
@Peter: Will you let us know when we've got'em all?

They keep coming up: geld, lass, ding

They keep creeping up:
geld, ding, lass

nicht witzig!

how about:

source - der Quell / die Quelle
to quell - bezwingen
to quell sth. - etw. unterdrücken

? können diese zu der Liste der Q's hinzugefügt werden?

funny, all those words!
have another one: pro (dt->en per; en->dt der Profi)

speck, wink
I think I'm out...

well, i think i found another one.....
...what about "routine"?!

i think itŽs both, friend&enemy.

...and yeah, another one might be "cafeteria", again both.

for now, bye...

And a false friend: gymnasium

as - As
duck - duck ("Duck Dich!")

guck - der Glibber
guck! - look! (umgangssprachlich, sueddeutsch)

lore - Wissen, Kunde ...
Lore - lorry

rote (rote Bete / rote learning)

pro - per
dafür - pro

not sure if friend or enemy, a little special:
!"moped"?
till later, bye all :)

yeah, my 3rd comment *s*

and a "Q" word moreover:

tadaaa: "queue"

well, im getting "fond" of that :)

hab' auch noch ein paar:
dies, fuss, genie, jag, leg, male, pest, racker, tank, tote, wall, wetten

How many do we have by now?
These don't seem to have been mentioned yet:
braver
eleven
spleen
glibber

Since we've already had a few rivers: what about "Inn"?

... and all of a sudden, the river Platte (in the USA) leaps to my mind.

range (=Reichweite etc)
Range = minx etc (says LEO), german colloquial for not well behaved/wild young lady (Lauser...)

ad - auch Freund UND Feind?

ad - engl. advertisement
ad - dt/lat. benutzt für "was ... angeht" (zB ad 3 - bezüglich Punkt 3 der Liste)
Zählt das auch?
(ok, ich suche noch nach besseren...)

griff, all, rind, mine, wink, frag, heft, grips, spiel, stile, fad
außerdem, aber nicht ganz so schön:
be (dt: Ton (Halbton unter "h"), engl. - ist mir gerade entfallen)
mantel (gibt's das auf engl. auch ohne piece bzw. (laut LEO) clock?)
kerb (dt. von kerben - to nick)
traps (dt. von trapsen - to clump)
Murks (dt. = botch, engl. von murk)
So - genug für heute, zurück an die Arbeit!

PS: Auf deutsch gibt's die Silbe
-bold (zB Trunkenbold, Saufbold)
Weiß jemand, wo das herkommt? Hieß das mal so viel wie "Mann" oder ist das bloß Wortbildung?
Tschüs

noch eins: nix
de: coll. for nothing
en: die Nixe

gut, lass, ...

Every time I think we've got all of 'em, you guys continue to amaze me and come up with more!

This time we had 7 duplicates within this group of additions since the last sort (dies, lass, leg, lore, male, pest, wink) and 3 duplicates of words already in the last sorted list (lager, mode, most) for a total of 81 unique contributions.

Contributors since last sort: Amelie, AW, chrissiek, claudia g, david, DavidM, DirkDUS (der echte!), Flo, heller, Linda, nik, Rainer, Reinhard II, Sue, Terri, weirdo, woody (and anonymous)--hope I didn't miss anybody--thanks to all of you.

To Terri: I won't know when we've got them all, I don't think anyone's ever compiled this list before! Maybe when Sue, who's working her way through the dictionary, gets to 'Z'!

Sue: you're not out, you're just taking a break! Come back anytime.

Linda: you're right, they haven't been. We're up to 311 now!

Reinhard II, Sue, Dirk and others: rivers are okay, as long as in the other language it's not the same thing, so Platte is fine for example, and so are Po, and Spree and Inn (and Main).

Thanks for the 'Q' words, weirdo (and Sue, and david).

I won't worry too much about whether they're friends or enemies for now; if you're sure they're only friends then maybe better not to put them here, but if you're not sure, or if they're both, go ahead and list them.

The complete list now stands at 311 (uncensored) words:

ad after all also alter am an angel anger art artist as as Ass back bad bade bake bald band bang barren base bat be beet Bier bin blank blasé blender bog boot born brand brat bratling braver brief bug cafeteria chef colt dank den dick die dies ding doll dose drum duck eleven elf email fad fade fall falter fang fast fasten fee fell fern fester fetter fink first fix flog fond fort frag fries fug fund funk furze fuss gab gaffer gang gar geld genial genie gib gift gilt glibber glut grab gram griff grind grips gross guck gut gut gymnasium hag hall Hamburger handy hang happen hart hat heck heft held hell heller her herb herd hob hold hole hose hub hummer hut Inn ire jag just kerb kind kitten labor lack lade laden lag lager lass last latte leer leg lied liege limo link links list lob lobe loch locker log lore lose lot lump lunge lurch mach Made mag main male man mantel mark mass maul met minder mine mist mitten mode mole moll moos moose moped mops most mull Murks muss muster mutter natter nix not Note null nun nut page pate pest pike plane Platte plump Po posse post pro Probe provision puff pulli pummel pup pups Qualm quell queue quote racker rad rain rand rang range raps rat regal rein rest riff rind ring rock roman rose rot rote routine ruck sage salve same schmuck see sense siege singe sold sole span spanner spare spat speck spiel spleen spree spring spur spurt stab stand star stark stern stile stock store strafe strand stuck summer sure Tag talk tang tank taste tat tee Teller these tick tier toll Ton tor tot tote traps tripper trunk turn turner wade wage wall wand war ward wart was web welt wetten wetter wider will wink wort

Your turn again!

Bezirk

Here are some contributions to the in meantime quite impressive list:

quake (deutsch: Imp. singl von quaken);
erst;
else (deutsch: Frauenname);
befall;
gaby (engl. Trottel, Tropf; deutsch: Frauenname)
gage;
flatter (deutsch: Imp.singl. von flattern);
walker (deutsch: einer der walkt - Verfilzen);
lest (deutsch: Imp. pl. von lesen);
lab (deutsch: bio, Enzym im Kälbermagen).

"brave".....
...von wegen "brave mädels kommen....";
and "be brave!"....

(ist viel leichter, wenn man ne geordnete liste sieht)

haste, sud, such, teil, pack, tun, smoking, pump, welch, wen, werf, alm

...and we should not forget the amazing word "smoking".
If somebody in the United States nowadays tells you with a firm uncompromising voice "No smoking, please", you better refrain from puffing up his apartment with tobacco clouds.
On the other hand, if you receive an invitation to a party in Germany, saying "No smoking necessary", then you might come as you please. Provided it looks somehow decent of course. No formal wear required.
"No smoking": I guess, man rather sollte zwei languages nicht durcheinanderputten...

Was für eine APARTe Liste das doch ist :)

@Peter:

Warum sollte man die Gross-/Kleinschreibung bei den deutschen Begriffen ignorieren? Anders als die Umlaute macht die G-/K-Schreibung einen grossen Teil der Unterscheidungsmoeglichkeiten im Deutschen aus und in diesem speziellen Fall koennte Sie zur Unterscheidung von den englischen Begriffen (die i.d.R. klein geschrieben werden) durchaus mit herangezogen werden. Sicherlich nicht fehlerfrei, aber zumindest hilfreich (IMHO).

When river names are o.k., city names should be acceptable, too (always subject to the condition that the word has another meaning in the other language.

I know a nice example: Worms

(A couple of years ago, I read John Julius Norwich's "History of Venice". One of the chapters had the title THE TREATY OF WORMS (all in capital letters). At first, I didn't know what to make of this strange "Vertrag der Würmer" (in a history textbook!), and only when I read the chapter, I discovered that it was about a war which was terminated with a peace treaty made in the city of Worms.)

@ Reinhard II: You can't image the giggles that the 'Diet of Worms' produced in history class in high school...
Anyway new words, including some dialect in both languages, some bad slang, and some 'scrabble words':
Abo (is slang for Australian Aborigine, is derogitive, never use it!)
Ab (11th civil or 5th ecclesiastical month of the Jewish calender)
Em (in English, it is both a letter of the alphabet and a printer's measure; and I think it is Kölsch dialect for 'am', as in 'Em Telefonische' which is a 'Kneipe' around the corner)
es (another letter in the alphabet)
er (interjection expressing hesitation)
horst (in German, it means eyrie; in English, it is a geological formation)
reif (Scottish word for spoliation, plunder)

behalf, bitten, form, bunt, butt

sack

lad, sag, half, grub

I don't want to spoil the party, but following our rules, I am afraid, we have to eliminate several words from the list, because they have the same origin. At least:
artist,
cafeteria,
gymnasium,
Hamburger,
handy,...
Those are really not more than "ordinary" False Friends.

PS: What's "queue"?

@Sylvestor: I agree with you that artist and
cafeteria don't belong here, but the others definitely do.
queue up = Schlange stehen
Queue = cue (Billard)

bomber en=person (suicide bomber)
Bomber de=plane (as far as I know)

False false enemies?

Sylvester is right - this party is a lot of fun, but what exactly are the rules of the game? It seems that some of the party guests (e.g. artist, handy, or gymnasium) are false friends, not enemies. They are at the wrong party, and should go to the "False Friends" party instead (which is right next door at http://www.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum/forum.c...).

What exactly are "Falsche Feinde", and what are "Falsche Freunde"? Let's look at the definitions given to us by Peter Czukor, the founder of this amazing discussion thread. Peter says:
[Quote]
The rules are that a word must be spelled identically in both English and German but have
different derivations. "Bad" is on the list because it has two unrelated meanings, and really
comes from two different origins. [....] Words that have the same origin [....] but which mean
different things in two languages [....] are called "False friends" (deceptive cognates).
[End of Quote]

My paraphrased version of the rule: You find a German and an English word that have the same spelling. If they are cognates (i.e. have descended from a common ancestor), then they belong in the "Falsche Freunde" department. If, on the other hand, they derive from different ancestors, they are considered "Falsche Feinde".

That seems to be a simple enough rule. The catch, of course, is: Who decides whether there is common ancestry or not? And how many generations / centuries / millennia do you want to go back? WHERE DO YOU DRAW THE LINE?

Since DNA testing for words has not yet been invented, we need to turn to our Etymology Dictionaries (of which I always keep a few around - you never know when you need them). I spent an entertaining hour looking up various words from this thread (and yes, I do have a life).

Consider the case of "gift" - which at first glance seems like the perfect "false friend". But English "gift" and German "Gift" do go back to the same Germanic root "gift", meaning "something that has been given". German "Gift" underwent a negative (pejorative) shift in meaning, whereas the English "gift" turned our more positive ("mejorative", not sure whether that's actually a word).

Here are some more words found in this thread that have a common Germanic ancestor:
after; blank; brand; fall; fang; gang; gift; hang; hose; laden; spring; stand; stark;
web; will; wink
A longer list of words have a common Latin derivation (sorry, Stefan):
artist; braver; brief; fade (fatidus); fix; genial; genie; just; labor; mode; null; pest;
post; pro; probe; provision; quote; roman; turn; turner; wall
Here are words with common French ancestry: chef; queue; routine.

Add to that the supposed "Falsche Freunde" where English words are borrowed directly from German: hamburger; lager; strafe. And the reverse list (German borrowing from English): handy; spleen.


THE BOTTOM LINE:
It turns out that more than 10 percent of all "Falsche Feinde" in this thread are cognates, and are therefore (according to Peter's rule) false "false enemies",

Two more interesting examples of false false enemies (false enemies that should be in the false friends department):
- English "kind" (both senses) and German "Kind" ultimately go back to the same
Indo-European root *gen (and so does the -gn- part of the word cognate).
- In a round-about way, the name of the American river "Platte" (see Reinhard's comment)
is a cognate of German "Platte". French Trappers named the river Riviere de Plat,
meaning "Flat River". French "plat" goes back to middle Latin "plattus", and so does
German "Platte".

Hm, interesting. If it is the question "Where to draw the line?", one could as well ask "How to draw the line?" I mean: Is a identical spelling really a rule for a Falscher Freund/Feind? My favourite example is PREGNANT/PRÄGNANT. It's a real "false friend", like GIFT. This would mean that 100% identical spelling is not neccessary.

And if so, I ask myself if GIRL and KERL are "false friends"... interesting connotation, btw.

Another interesting case:

arm ==> poor
to arm ==> bewaffnen

But also "der Arm = arm". Don't have an etymological dictionary around to see if they derive from the same roots.

arms (Waffen) <=> Arms (Eine der beiden möglichen Genitivschreibweisen von "der Arm")

About the definition of False Enemies:

Thanks for all the great comments. I have a precise definition prepared for you which should resolve all of the questions that have been raised, but I'm getting errors each time I've tried to submit it. I've saved it locally, and will retransmit it when this problem is resolved.

spinner - unless somebody shall dare to claim that these are cognates.

Of course they are, dear native speaker.
English "spinner" is derived from spin (as in "spin goat's hair into wool"). German "Spinner" is derived from "spinnen", which has the same meaning, and is a cognate, one hundred percent.
The meaning of "Spinner" (as in Verrueckter) goes back to "jemand spinnt Gedanken", d.h. "jemand gruebelt zuviel".

Vielleicht habe ich es ja tatsächlich überlesen, aber was ist z.B. mit Block/to block

Something which turned up in another query: Gaul.

Hans,you have shot me down,but how about this one: jammer.
What can you do with that?

What about the word bob?

Bob = bobsleigh

bob = hängendes Gewicht

Born = fount

born = geboren ?

old-timer = älterer Mensch / Oldtimer = veteran car
Fusion = merger / fusion = Verschmelzung (allg.)

hasten = hurry, hustle / to hasten = beschleunigen

Helm = helmet / helm = Steuer(rad)

Herd = cookind stove / herd = Herde

Island = Iceland / island = Insel

Kipper = tipping truck / kipper = Räucherhering

Lake = pickle / lake = See

(Rücken)Mark = marrow / mark = z.B. Marke

nett = nice / nett = netto

Police = policy / police = Polizei

Pope = priest / pope = Papst

Promotion = doctorate / promotion = Werbung; Beförderung

Quark = curd (cheese) / quark = Atomteilchen

@native speaker (a few posts above): jammer is kosher. No cognate.

Former = moulder / former = früher

Flame = Flemish; Fleming / flame = Flamme

fleck

There seems to be a size limit on comments now, which is why I couldn't post before. Unfortunately my comments are too long to post now due to this size limit. I'll try to add what I can in bits and pieces. (1 of ?)

Interesting comments, Hans, and thanks for bringing them up.

You're right, a certain percentage of the words offered here are indeed cognates, and so are not really false enemies. One reason I didn't want to get involved in that discussion before this point is that for some words it's debatable which category they fall into, and for others my German is simply not good enough and I don't have a German etymological dictionary handy. Plus, we could end up with endless side discussions or quibbles about this or that word, which would divert energy from the central point which is to concentrate on finding more new ones. Which is not to discourage anyone from pointing out that certain words don't belong according to the definition, as some have appropriately done, I'm just less competent to do so. (2/?)

Nevertheless, since as you point out there is an increasing number of questionable entries I would just like to make a few points about what belongs and what doesn't. You're right to go back to the original definition, and your paraphrase of it is a good one. The original definition is not arbitrary--as I alluded originally there is a serious purpose also to be served, though I admit that for me that is secondary to the fun I am having here reading all the responses and getting involved. (3/?)

Be that as it may, some additional comments to clarify the definition, beyond what has already been said, may be in order. To respond to those asking questions about capitalization and umlauts: you can ignore capitalization, "false enemies" are not case-sensitive. Umlauts: you can use German words with umlauts, and they match an English word without one, so: German "Zzxüx" matches English "zzxux". You can also respell the umlaut using the -e- convention (is there a German word for this?) so: German "Zzxuex" but note: this now matches English "zzxuex" and NOT "zzxux" anymore. (4/?)

So if I had to restate the rules very precisely, it would go like this:

1. the German word and English word must have exactly the same length--the same number of characters. Characters are usually just letters: A-Z, but if a word requires a hyphen, then that occupies a character position all by itself (it is not an "accented character") and so there must be a hyphen in both G and E.

2. in each character position, the characters in the two words must be identical, letter for letter, with the exception that any umlauts or other diacritics over either word may be ignored. So 'ü' matches 'u'; likewise accents over English letters (found only in loan-words from French or other languages) can be ignored in exactly the same manner. (5/?)

3. The words must not be cognates--their origin must be different. They "accidentally" have the same spelling. Example: it's clear that G. "Lied" (song) has nothing to do with E. "lied" (past tense of lie = tell an untruth). These are true false enemies. A surprising (to me) example is "Gift" which I always thought to be accidental cognates, but it turns out they have a common origin so they must be considered "false friends" and not false enemies, and so do not belong here.
(6/?)

4. This isn't really a rule, but a clarification about respelling of German words with certain letters: since a convention of German orthography allows umlauts to be respelled using an -e- following the "de-umlauted" letter ("fuer", "Muenchen"--does this respelling convention have a name in German?) you can opt to spell your word either way--or both ways--in the search for false enemies. If "fuer" were a word in English, then we would have *two* pairs of False Enemies: one for "fur" and the other for "fuer". And I'm not sure exactly what the rules are in German about respelling words with ß as ss, but wherever this is allowed in German you can do it here.
(7/?)

I don't want to get into the rules for false friends here, they could well be different. Because of the umlaut and respelling rules for example, German prägnant could not be a false enemy, because neither 'pragnant' nor 'praegnant' is an English word. (If the English word were spelled this way, it would still not be a false enemy because it would fail the common origin test.) Whether this word is acceptable as a false friend is another question (in my opinion, yes it is).

As several have pointed out, there is a separate forum for the "False friends"--and False Friends are much more important to the language learner, where "false enemies" are merely a curiosity (to the learner).
(8/?)

About place names: why are they allowed? Why not? They are words, people understand them, and use them to communicate. They simply must adhere to the rules of the definition, like any other word. "Worms" is a good example.

What about words with two separate meanings, where one of them is a cognate but the other isn't? These words are acceptable. I don't know if "Arm" is a good example because I'm not sure of the German etymology, but if "arm" (poor) is not etymologically related to "Arm" (body part) then it is a valid False Enemy because we can choose G. "Arm" (poor) not= E. "arm" (body part).
(9/?)

So, I hope this has helped to refocus on what exactly is a "False Enemy". (Yes, maybe "real enemy" would've been a better name, but then we would've lost the amusing alliteration as well as stealing some of the limelight and recognition value from "false friends"!)

Here's a short version of the definition to test your word:

Identical spelling letter for letter, ignoring umlauts, accents and capital letters on both sides; no common derivation.

Thanks for all the great comments, and hope this helps!
(10/11)

Whew, what an ordeal! I'll keep my comments short next time, but I don't know if I'll be able to post the entire sorted list anymore, at least not all in one message.

Claudia thanks for all the great posts, but watch the definition: surely "old-timer" has the same derivation, it's a loan-word from the English, right? so therefore has the same origin.

An understandable confusion, in the absence of the precise definition; hopefully it'll be easier now for everyone to distinguish between what is and isn't a Falsche Feinde.
(11/11!)

An Amelie (Beitrag vom 25. Juli)
Deutsch -bold ist verwandt mit dem englischen bold. Beide gehen zurück auf ein germanisches Adjektiv "bold", welches "kühn" bedeutet. Das englische Wort hat diese Bedeutung bewahrt. Das deutsche -bold ist "verkommen" zu einem Suffix in Rauf-, Trunk-, oder Witzbold. (Kobold klingt so, als gehörte es auch zur selben Familie, aber hat eine andere Etymologie.
Dieselbe Nachsilbe findet sich (in leicht veränderter Form) in Vornamen wie Theo-bald oder Leo-pold.

So, "streng genommen", zählt "bold" damit nicht zu den Falschen Feinden - siehe die Diskussion über "cognates" (Wörter, die auf eine gemeinsame Wurzel zurückgehen).

... and here, by popular demand, is the complete list sorted by alphabet, including EVERY WORD, weird or straight, obscure or obvious, and, yes, even the cognates. The total number (so far) is 380 !!

to be continued

Part 1: A - G
Ab, Abo, ad, after, all, alm, also, alter, am, an, angel, anger, apart, arm, arms, art, artist, as, as, Ass, back, bad, bade, bake, bald, band, bang, barren, base, bat, be, beet, befall, behalf, Bezirk, Bier, bin, bitten, blank, blasé, blender, block, bob, bog, bomber, boot, born, born, brand, brat, bratling, brave, braver, brief, bug, bunt, butt, cafeteria, chef, colt, dank, den, dick, die, dies, ding, doll, dose, drum, duck, eleven, elf, else, Em, email, er, erst, es, fad, fade, fall, falter, fang, fast, fasten, fee, fell, fern, fester, fetter, fink, first, fix, flame, flatter, fleck, flog, fond, form, former, fort, frag, fries, fug, fund, funk, furze, Fusion, fuss, gab, gaby, gaffer, gage, gang, gar, Gaul, geld, genial, genie, gib, gift, gilt, glibber, glut, grab, gram, griff, grind, grips, gross, grub, guck, gut, gut, gymnasium

Part 2: H - Q
hag, half, hall, Hamburger, handy, hang, happen, hart, haste, hasten, hat, heck, heft, held, hell, heller, helm, her, herb, herd, herd, hob, hold, hole, horst, hose, hub, hummer, hut, Inn, ire, island, jag, jammer, just, kerb, kind, kipper, kitten, lab, labor, lack, lad, lade, laden, lag, lager, lake, lass, last, latte, leer, leg, lest, lied, liege, limo, link, links, list, lob, lobe, loch, locker, log, lore, lose, lot, lump, lunge, lurch, mach, Made, mag, main, male, man, mantel, mark, mark, mass, maul, met, minder, mine, mist, mitten, mode, mole, moll, moos, moose, moped, mops, most, mull, Murks, muss, muster, mutter, natter, nett, nix, not, Note, null, nun, nut, old-timer, pack, page, pate, pest, pike, plane, Platte, plump, Po, police, pope, posse, post, pro, Probe, promotion, provision, puff, pulli, pummel, pump, pup, pups, quake

Part 3: R - Z (including a few Q's that should have been in the previous post)
Qualm, quark, quell, queue, quote, racker, rad, rain, rand, rang, range, raps, rat, regal, reif, rein, rest, riff, rind, ring, rock, roman, rose, rot, rote, routine, ruck, sack, sag, sage, salve, same, schmuck, see, sense, siege, singe, smoking, smoking, sold, sole, span, spanner, spare, spat, speck, spiel, spinner, spleen, spree, spring, spur, spurt, stab, stand, star, stark, stern, stile, stock, store, strafe, strand, stuck, such, sud, summer, sure, Tag, talk, tang, tank, taste, tat, tee, teil, Teller, these, tick, tier, toll, Ton, tor, tot, tote, traps, tripper, trunk, tun, turn, turner, wade, wage, walker, wall, wand, war, ward, wart, was, web, welch, welt, wen, werf, wetten, wetter, wider, will, wink, Worms, wort

OK, really there are only 374 entries in the list, I did not remove the duplicates !!

Hi,
maybe it is a bit late to write it down now, but I canŽt resiste.
Here I have some: common, van, in, ware, pass, tear, grass, mind, nase, loud, Lord, wind, iron, plaster, horny, fit, figure, ess ... ;)

... and canŽt resesit again :)
lust, listen, paste, bilge, safe, sake, kater, rate, bank ... :)

... and again:
trip, ball, sex, pole ...
;)

Wind /wind

"bilge" und "iron" sind auch deutsche wörter???
kenne ich nicht...

And what english word is "kater"???

Bilge ist auch deutsch, steht sogar im Leo.
Ich muss leider "iron" (was mit Ironie zu tun hätte) und "kater" canceln, da ich die Notizen nicht mehr habe und im Internet finde ich es auch nicht mehr. Die Worte habe ich auch nicht früher gekannt, erst heute irgendwo in Net gefunden. Sorry, ich nehme es zurück.

But "nun!!" is German as well as English.
Ich hoffe, habe es wieder gutgemacht.
;)

common, tear, grass, mind, loud, plaster, horny, figure

German words? I don't think so...
OK, I'll admit to 'grass' as the name of a writer

"van" a German word?

If you thought of Ludwig van Beethoven: his grandfather came from the Netherlands, where the origin of the name lies. Thus, "van" is Dutch, not German.

proper names (grass) don't count. Neither do cognates (wind,trip,ball,sex,pole,bank,etc).Where do you get common,tear,mind,loud,plaster,horny,figure?

nun looks good,but is already included.

Voll GRASS, ej...

tier = die Etage, Reihe, Lag, Rang, Sitz ... – im dt. das Tier
grass = siehe Beitrag von Erkan – fand ich OK.
horn = engl. Huppe, oder als Verb „to horn“
figure = im engl. „to figure“ ein Verb, im dt. die Figure

Why not wind, trip, ball, sex, pole, bank?
wind and trip – are verbs in engl. but not in dt. so they have different meaning I think
ball = im dt. der Tanz-Ball
sex = im engl.„Geschlecht“ – im dt. heißt es „der Sex“
pole = im engl. Pfahl, Stab, Stange und der (nord)Pol! – im dt. ist es der Pole/die Polin
bank = dt. z.B. die Bank zum sitzen z.B. im Park (engl. = bench)

Vielleicht habe ich dies missverstanden aus dem PeterŽs context:” Words that have the same origin (not necessarily spelled identically) …”
plaster = heißt im engl. Steinbord oder Randstein, Parkplatz oder da wo Fußgänger laufen und ist (fast) identisch mit dem dt. Wort „Pflaster“
loud = im deutschen laut
Dann möchte ich mich dafür entschuldigen. Ebenso ein „Sorry“ for typing mistakes!
;)

"Words that have the same origin..." waren die Wörter, die nicht in die Liste gehören. NICHT! Was so ein kleines Wörtchen alles ausmachen kann. Mir ist außerdem noch nie ein deutsches Wort namens "Figure" begegnet.

was unser freund erkan meint, müsste eigentlich KRASS geschrieben werden

Nicht, wenn Freund Erkan aus bestimmten Regionen in unserem schoenen Lande kommt...

egal, ob es GRASS ausgesprochen wird - das Wort heißt KRASS

I have wasted another half hour to come up with another 4 "Falsche Feinde":

blast (German: 2nd person plural of blasen)
dang (past tenst of dingen - I admit this one is rather obscure)
lost (German: 3rd person singular of losen)
tut (English tut-tut: the clicking sound of disapproval for which there is no letter in our alphabet)

I must admit that my main motivation is to see how long we can keep this thread going.

@Hans Wolff: Eine Frage, die nichts mit dem gestellten Thema zu tun hat: Ich wundere mich nämlich des öfteren über die Präsenz von euch Amerikanern (speziell von Peter und dir) zu einer Zeit, in der ihr eigentlich in tiefstem Schlummer liegen solltet. Dein letzter Beitrag, um 6:56 registriert, bedeutet doch, dass es z.B. in New York City um diese Zeit 0:56 Eastern Standard Time war. Wann schlaft ihr eigentlich? Unabhängig davon finde ich es gut, dass es euch gibt...

die usa haben ja noch ein paar andere zeitzonen.
6:56 hier wären 21:56 pacific - durchaus keine ungewöhnliche zeit...

Heinz, auf deine Frage "Wann schlaft ihr eignetlich?" - hast du schon einmal gehoert, dass New York den Beinamen hat "the city that doesn't sleep"? Wenn ich also in New York wohnte, waere meine Antwort auf deine Frage "we don't". :-)
Ich wohne aber im Bundesstaat Indiana, und bin schlicht und einfach ein Nachtmensch - nachts kann ich am besten arbeiten. (Wenn man das Suchen nach "Falschen Feinden" Arbeit nennen will).
Aber keine Angst, um 1:00 morgens war ich im Bett!!

yup, im still alive *s* and i bring along another enemy, where the hell do they all come from?!

this time the enemy is called: "courage"

any objections?
(could somebody explain to me what a "spunk" really is, thx, bye, david :)

Hans, I should have remembered, since I used to live in the greater N.Y. metropolitan area for many years. Nun wohne ich übrigens ganz in der Nähe deiner alten Heimatstadt.

@Peter
I didn't know that "old-timer" is a loan word, as you say.
As far as I know it's a false friend like "dressman", "showmaster", "Chips", "Bowle", "Slip", Smoking" etc., so-called "pseudo-anglicisms" in German....

something funny concerning Žkrass&cool'...

"1. Unterrichtsstunde im neuen Schuljahr.
Der Lehrer sagt: És gibt 2 Wörter, die ich im Unterricht nicht hören will. Das eine ist krass und das andere ist cool..."
Schweigen.
Dann fragt ein Schüler: "Und - welche Wörter meinen Sie denn?"

...and @ Hans Wolff <us> and ALL OTHERS
i wonder who makes the last constructive comment?! *smile*...go on : )

great list - it was fun to read it!

D: Beamer E: video projector
E: beamer D: BMW

I was asking an american customer for a "beamer" to give a presentation, but they said: You get them cheaper in Germany...
LEO lists beamer as an english word, but (at least in the US) it's not used . Try to buy a beamer at ebay.com. No projectors among 164 offers.

allen - Allen (key, screw, wrench)
Not sure if this counts, as Allen looks like a name to me.
Gruss

I can't stand looking at this 160-mega-thread without having added anything. So I sat and wrenched my brain, but there was nothing CTRL-F couldn't find already o your lists. When I reached 'p', I was surprised to find 'prima' as an English expression. It has the same meaning as it has in German so doesn't really fit here, but I just wondered how you would spell it: "pree-mah" (as in German) or "prime-ai" or "prime-a"?

Found one! What about sprit?

Is the term "double-beamer" still around? I remember there was this fashion around 10 years ago. It means; "An IBM employee that drives a BMW" (In other words, a "double-B-M-er"), but was used as a sort of synonym for "yuppie", only applicable to yuppies in the computer industry. (Implication = "Young, rich computer nerd)

durst (archaic past tense of dare)

Und noch eins: pylon (deutscher Pylon = Verkehrshütchen)

K.S.: I'm not aware of Prima in English. I checked two desk dictionaries which have it only as part of the expression "prima ballerina" which is used. Md my Webster's New Int'l unabridged 2nd also has it as a printing and proofreading term. Thanks for Pylon, and welcome to the party!
AW-I didn't understand your post, are you proposing "double-beamer" as a False Enemy? In this case it would have to be used in German, spelled exactly like that, and have no common origin with the English. This seems pretty unlikely.

A reminder for anyone not familiar with earlier posts, here's a quick definition of "False Enemies":

A word spelled identically in German and English letter for letter, ignoring umlauts, accents and capital letters on both sides and having no common origin; examples: "bald, fast, hell".

Please refer to the long version of the definition at Aug 18 07:45:16.

here's an easy one (or do we have that already?):

summer (=Sommer/buzzer)

>here's an easy one (or do we have that already?):
>summer (=Sommer/buzzer)

Try searching this page with the search function of your browser. "Summer" has been mentioned six times now :(

Ich haette noch "floss" im Angebot.
floss (Faser/float)

firm gas lose roll war

I am in awe at how long we have kept this thread going. For a while, I thought we were getting to the bottom of the barrell, and that only the very obscure "Falsche Feinde" are left (see my post "durst" from Sep. 13 which would fall into the "obscure" category).

But "floss" and "firm" in the previous 2 posts demonstrate that there are still a lot of lucky finds to be made.

By the way, "war" and "lose" were included in previous posts.

Let's push it.
In vielen englischen Büchern findet man in wörtlichen Reden "er", was wohl soviel heißen soll wie "äh".
er - äh
he - er

Und dann noch "bell". Einmal als bell=Glocke und dann noch in Aufforderung wie "Bell doch, du dummer Hund"
the bell - die Glocke
bark! - bell!

loss/löss(Gesteinsart)

Loß und Floß werden mit ß geschrieben, nicht mit ss...

Laut Definition sind aber Ersatz-Schreibweisen für Umlaute und ß erlaubt. Notfalls ist es eben ein schweizer "falscher Feind", da wird das abgeschaffte ß immer ss geschrieben.

(to) harken: to rake / lit: hören, horchen

Rotten (verfaulen/routs)

gilt (E: Vergoldung, D: es gilt)
met (E: past participle of meet, D: Honigwein)
Seen (E: past participle of see, D: Plural von See)
Stolen (E: past participle of steal, D: Plural von Stola)

poller (E: Interviewer; D: dieses Ding an das Schiffe angebunden werden)

roller (E: Walze, Rolle, D: scooter)

Wie waers mit:
cat - Katze
Cat - Catamaran (ich weiss ist eine Abkuerzung, aber jeder Segler sagt er segelt einen Cat - wenn ers denn tut)

Wo ist eigentlich Peter, der das ganze ins Rollen gebracht hat. Ich dachte du bleibst, Wochen Monate Jahre dran? Uebrigens eine sehr lustige Liste. Super Idee!!

Sollte in 180 Beitraegen tatsaechlich das offensichtliche Wort "für" noch nicht erwähnt worden sein?

für - for
fur - Fell

I am really impressed by this thread. Not only because of the great number of entries but because I find that I have less problems learning the english vocabulary by reading the "false friends" and the comments on them.

Who did the effort to collect the list and to complete it by adding the english and/or the german meaning? This list would be a good aid for beginners and also experts. I would appreciate to get it.

Thanks

I am really impressed by this thread. Not only because of the great number of entries but because I find that I have less problems learning the english vocabulary by reading the "false enemies" and the comments on them.

Who did the effort to collect the list and to complete it by adding the english and/or the german meaning? This list would be a good aid for beginners and also experts. I would appreciate to get it.

Thanks

to rappel, amerik.= abseilen
Rappel, einen Rappel haben = to be completely cracked.
(überprüft, beides in LEO)

einer geht noch:

roster - Ro(e)ster

(ich hab hier kein echtes Oe, hier ist aber das o mit den zwei Punkten gemeint!! Dann muesste es doch auch den Regeln ensprechen, oder ? :-))

roster - Liste
Ro(e)ster - roaster

@Silke--I'm always here, I just don't like to post too often unless I have something specific to share--this isn't "my" thread, it's ours, everybody's, it belongs to everyone who has contributed, and who will contribute.

@Horst--everyone you see here is collecting the list, and LEO is kind enough to host the collection and thus give life to this mini-community, isn't it great? So far, we don't have a complete description of the English and German meanings, nor even a careful editing of the list to see which ones really are False Enemies. But for my part, I didn't want to get too involved in too many discussions about which words belong, because it might interfere with further collection of new words, unless a poster clearly misunderstood the definition.

At work there's sometimes a saying of "he who suggests it, does it" so if you want to start compiling a complete list with meanings, I'm sure we'd all appreciate it!

It's great if you're learning from it, but don't forget the "False Friends" which classically is much more important for language learners, there are whole books on the subject. Here's the LEO thread on False Friends: http://www.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum/forum.c...

Thanks to all the new posts, I DO read and enjoy them all. Keep 'em coming!

kohl

Germ - yeast
germ - Keim

What about christendom? or sack? or ample/Ampel?
Perhaps they're already old; I didn't read all these comments, because the list already quite long ;-) Greetings from a "false-friends-suffering" German exchange student in Dallas, Texas!

grate (E: what you do with cheese,
G: plural of Grat = ridge or burr)

Almost a whole week has gone by, and no new "Falsche Feinde" have been posted. Are we reaching the point where we have captured all of them?
I don't think so - but the specimens that are left in the wild are certainly becoming more elusive. So, LEO regulars and newcomers, may I challenge you to PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAPS ... I know there are more Falsche Feinde out there - let's catch them all!!

The following is the beginning of a 19th century poem which contains TWO Falsche Feinde (both of which are new to this thread). Can you spot them?

"Im tiefen Tale, am klaren Bache,
da saß ich einsam auf weichem Moose"

I am not sure, but is "Springer" such a false friend?
German: someone who jumps, and in particular the knight in chess.
English: Main Entry: spring·er
Pronunciation: 'spri[ng]-&r
Function: noun
Date: 1611
1 : a stone or other solid laid at the impost of an arch -- see ARCH illustration
2 : one that springs
3 : SPRINGER SPANIEL
4 : a cow nearly ready to calve
Seems to be different. A new false enemy?

Sorry, the first line must be "false enemy"

Klar:
Tale = tale (like in old wives' tale)
Moose = the animal (thread about whether this is the German Elch or not....

Anne,
da haste mitten ins Schwarze getroffen!!
(and of course, this sentence contains another 2 Falsche Feinde)

The other 2 should be
am = form of to be
sass = informally for rude, but often harmless

@Hans... ha! that's

mitten = fausthandschuh
haste = die Eile

wie ist es mit wog (D. wiegen/ E. ...)

Holler: süddt. für Holunder (elder)
to holler: brüllen (to scream)

bass (fish) / Bass (music)

Messing (D = brass)
messing (E = verwirrend)

LEO hat's in beide Richtungen.

Wale (D=Whales)
wale (E=Barkholz, Dollbord, Strieme [naut.], says LEO...)

trier (E = Erprober, Prüfer, Prüfgerät, Sichter - s. LEO)
Trier (D = a town in Germany, birthplace of Karl Marx)

Bär (D=bear)
bar (E=Bar, Stange, Riegel...)

Can't believe that all those animals are still missing...

Moor (D=swamp, moor; from Old High German 'muor' )
Moor (E=Mohr; from Latin 'Maurus' inhabitant of Mauretania)

Wank (D = a mountain near Garmisch-Partenkirchen [we've had rivers and towns, so why not mountains])
to wank (E = a foul-mouthed, very rude slang expression for "to masturbate" - don't use it!)

neck (D= Imperative of necken/to tease: Neck mich nicht!)
neck (E= Genick, Nacken)

Beck (D= south-German for baker)
beck (E: "at one's beck and call")

Bäcker (D= baker)
backer (E= Beistand u.ä.)

die Muse/to muse

hock (D= imperative of 'hocken'= to crouch)
hock (E= Rheinwein, Gefängnis u.a.m. ask MW)

D: Mute (Dativ von Mut)
E: to mute

lock (D= imperative of 'locken'=to allure)
lock (E= verschließen)

Göre (D= brat)
gore (E= Blut)

bück (D= imperative of 'bücken'=to stoop)
buck (E= Bock, Hase, $)

Mure (D=mudflow)
mure (E=einmauern)
Reuse (D=bow net)
reuse (E=wiederverwenden)
Stall(D=barn)
stall(E=überziehen [aero])
Lech (D=river in southern Germany)
lech (E=Lustmolch)
matte (D=mst)
Matte (E=Rohstein [Hüttemwesen])

loser (D: form of adj. 'lose', i.e loser Flansch; E: Verlierer)
loses (D: form of adj. 'lose', i.e loses Mundwerk; E: form of 'to lose')
lies (D: imperative of 'lesen'=read; E: Lügen)
hinge (D: subjunctive of 'hängen'=to hang; E: Scharnier)
tags (D: during the day E: Schilder)

matter (D: form of adj 'matt'=dull; E: ...)
belle(D: imperative of 'bellen'=bark; E: Schöne)
lug (D: lie - as in 'Lug und Trug'; E: Anschlußstück u.ä. - cf. LEO)
mast (D: pylon - from lat. 'malus'; E: Mastfutter - from Old High German 'mast'/Old English 'mete')
tellers (D: genitive of 'Teller'=plate; E: Erzähler, pl.)
Lüge/luge/(D: lie; E: rodeln)

Congratulations, we have reached 450 entries by now. Maybe it is time to get into the discussion about questionable entries that do not meet the "Falsche Feinde" definition. For the time being I have updated the "complete and uncensored list" and subdivided it into two sections. [Only some entries of 22 Aug., which were based on a fundamental misunderstanding are not included.] Words, that have been considered as questionable or obscure in previous posts are now compiled in a separate paragraph. But let’s start with the (so far) undisputed and doubtless False Enemies (386 in number!).

Undisputed entries (A-G):
ab, abo, ad, all, alm, also, alter, am, an, angel, anger, apart, arm, arms, art, as, ass, back, backer, bad, bade, bake, bald, band, bang, Bär, barren, base, bass, bat, be, beck, beet, befall, behalf, bell, belle, bezirk, bier, bilge, bin, bitten, blasé, blast, blender, block, bob, bog, boot, born, brat, bratling, bück, bug, bunt, butt, christendom, dang, dank, den, dick, die, dies, ding, doll, dose, drum, duck, durst, eleven, elf, else, em, email, er, erst, es, fad, falter, fast, fasten, fee, fell, fern, fester, fetter, fink, firm, first, flame, flatter, fleck, flog, floss, fond, form, former, fort, frag, fries, fug, fund, funk, für, furze, fuss, gab, gaby, gaffer, gage, gar, gas, Gaul, geld, genie, germ, gib, gilt, gilt, glut, Göre, grab, gram, grate, griff, grind, grips, gross, grub, guck, gut, gut.

Undisputed entries (H-O):
hag, half, hall, happen, harken, hart, haste, hasten, hat, heck, heft, held, hell, heller, helm, her, herb, herd, hinge, hob, hock, hold, hole, holler, horst, hub, hummer, hut, inn, ire, island, jag, jammer, kerb, kind, kipper, kitten, kohl, lab, lack, lad, lade, laden, lag, lake, lass, last, latte, lech, leer, leg, lest, lied, liege, lies, limo, link, links, list, listen, lob, lobe, loch, lock, locker, log, lore, lose, loser, loses, Löss, lost, lot, lug, lüge, lump, lunge, lurch, mach, made, mag, main, male, man, mantel, mark, mass, mast, matte, matter, maul, messing, met, minder, mine, mist, mitten, mole, moll, Moor, moos, moose, moped, mops, most, mull, mure, murks, muse, muss, muster, mute, mutter, natter, neck, nett, nix, not, note, nun, nut.

Undisputed entries (P-Z):
pack, page, pate, pike, plane, plump, Po, pole, police, poller, posse, pro, puff, pulli, pummel, pump, pup, pups, quake, qualm, quark, quell, quote, racker, rad, rain, rand, rang, range, rappel, raps, rat, rate, regal, reif, rein, rest, reuse, riff, rind, ring, rock, roll, rose, Röster, rot, rote, rotten, ruck, sack, sag, sage, sake, salve, same, sass, schmuck, see, seen, sense, siege, singe, smoking, smoking, sold, sole, span, spanner, spare, spat, speck, spiel, spree, spur, spurt, stab, stall, star, stern, stile, stock, stolen, store, strand, stuck, such, sud, summer, sure, tag, tags, talk, tang, tank, taste, tat, tee, teil, teller, tellers, these, tick, tier, toll, ton, tor, tot, tote, traps, trier, trunk, tun, tut, wade, wage, wale, walker, wand, wank, war, ward, wart, was, welch, welt, wen, werf, wetten, wetter, wider, wog, worms, wort.

Questionable entries (64 in number):
after, Allen, artist, beamer, blank, bomber, brand, brave, braver, brief, cafeteria, chef, chef, colt, courage, fade, fall, fang, fix, fusion, gang, genial, genie, gift, glibber, gymnasium, hamburger, handy, hang, haste, hose, just, lager, labor, mode, null, old-timer, pest, Platte, pope, post, probe, promotion, provision, pylon, queue, quote, roller, roman, routine, spinner, spleen, spring, springer, stand, stark, strafe, tripper, turn, turner, wall, web, will, wink.

This is of course no final verdict. In fact, everybody is invited to argue and prove that a certain word belongs in one or the other category i.e. whether a word is a real False Enemy or not (cf. Peter's definition of 18 Aug). All the same the FE-community and all newcomers are still called upon to hunt the remaining Enemies. As Hans said earlier, "Let's catch them all!"

Syl-de,
a big thank you from me and the rest of the FE-community for compiling the latest list of False Enemies. I was thinking last week that it's about time that we had a complete list again. I was even considering doing it myself, wasting an hour or two on False Enemies, instead of painting the porch, and cleaning up the basement.

But you have already done the job!! I especially like the way you divided the list into undisputed and questionable entries.
Thanks again.

Many thanks at syl. I am sorry to say it's only 448 entries as "smoking" and "gut" are included twice ;-)Btw, I'd like to dispute the status of "smoking". The German and the Englisch word clearly have the same (English) origin and are therefore no False Enemies.

I'm so sorry, but I have to reduce the total amount once more: "chef" is contained twice in the list of questionable entries.

In order to make good, I have a new one:
D: Fürther (an inhabitant of Fürth, a city close to Nuremberg)
E: further
(Umlauts may be ignored - see Peter's original posting, which started this thread.)

It was a very rainy sunday afternoon, when I noticed how many of those Falsche Feinde are still around. It was much fun to catch some more of them...

angle (D: imperative of ‚angeln‘=to fish; E: Winkel)
bark (D: barque; E: bellen)
berate (D: imperative of ‚beraten=to counsel; E: beschimpfen)
bücket/bucket (D: form [arch.] of ‚bücken‘=to bow ; E: Eimer)
dankest (D: form [arch.] of ‚danken"=to thank ; E: am feuchtesten)
diene (E: imperative of "dienen"=to serve; E: Dien=chem. Sybstanzgruppe)
fastest (D: form of ‚fasten‘=to fast ; E: am schnellsten)
flick (D: imperative of ‘flicken’=to patch; E: schnalzen)
flicker (D: patcher; E: flackern)
grant (D: south German for grumpiness; E: gewähren)
haute (D: past tense of "hauen"=to beat; E: hochklassig)
heller (D: brighter ; E: cf. M-W)
herein (D: hierin ; E: come in!)
hocker (D: stool; E: cf. M-W)
hotter (D: Austrian for parish boundary; E: heißer)
latten (D: laths; E: Messinglegierung)
lief (form of ‘laufen’=to run ; E: [arch.] geliebt, froh)
löge/loge (D: subjunctive II of ‚lügen‘=to lie; E: Loge)

some more:
mâche (D: imperative of ‚machen"=to do ; E: cf. M-W)
malt (D: imperative of ‘malen’=to paint; E: Malz)
Männer/manner (D: men; E: Art)
Mär/mar (D: fairy tale; E: schädigen)
marge (D: margin; E: Margarine)
mate (D: south american holly; E: Kumpel u.a.)
mint (D: teal; E: prägen)
Miß/miss (D: miss; E: vermissen)
modern (D: to moulder; E: modern)
müd/mud (D: tired; E: Schlamm)
muff (D: frowst; E: Flansch)
netter (D: nattier; E: Netzmacher)
racker (D: rascal; E: cf. M-W)
ret (D: reed; E: rösten)
rick (D: central German for rack; E: verdrehen)
rums (D: bang!; E: Mz. Rum)
säger/sager (D: merganser [zool.]; E: klüger)
sagest (D: you say [arch.]; E: am klügsten)
sarge (D: coffin; E: Sergeant)
seine (D: his; E: Schleppnetz)
seines (D: his; E: Schleppnetze)
sole (D: brine; E: alleinig/Sohle)
span (D: sliver; E: Spanne)
spelt (D: a wheat; E: Partizip von ‚to spell‘)
Spötter/spotter (D: mocker; E: Aufklärer)
stare (D: starlings; E: starren)
süß/suss (D: sweet ; E: spitzkriegen)

and the last bunch:
tang (D: seaweed; E: Zinken/Geruch)
tarn (D: imperative of ‚tarnen‘=to camouflage; E: Bergsee)
taut (D: form of ‘tauen’=to thaw; E: gespannt)
tod (D: death; E: "on one’s tod" [BE sl.]=allein)
tore (D: gates; E: form of ‘to tear’=zerreißen)
Törn/torn (D: boat trip; E: zerrissen)
totes (D: form of adj. ‘tot’=dead; E: form of ‘to tote’=schleppen)
trans (D: genitive of ‚Tran‘=whale oil; E: transständig [chem.])
Tülle/tulle (D: grommet; E: Tüll)
unreel (D: unfair; E: abwickeln)
wag (D: imperative of ‚wagen‘=to dare; E: wedeln)
wallet (D: form of ‚wallen‘=to make a pilgrimage/to flow [arch.]; E: Brieftasche)
want (D: shroud; E: wollen)
watt (D: tideland; E: physik. Einheit)

and some additional relatives of already known Enemies:
bezirks, fells, finks, limos, lurches, puffs, qualms, rappels, rinds, rings, rocks

sorry that one balance has to be re-drawn ;-)

syl-de,
you are incredible. How did you find all these? It must have been a very long and very rainy Sunday ...

Peter, it seems that you have created a new medical condition - the False Enemy Syndrome. It's highly contagious, and addictive, too. Once you are hooked, you spend endless hours catching False Enemies, when you should be painting the porch, eating, or sleeping.
Maybe we need to start a therapy group ...

Count me in!

whow! einen hab ich noch:
bap (D: kölsch für Vater, Papa, E: brit. für Brötchen)

Wie wäre es denn mit DOING:
im deutschen das lautmalerische Wort aus der Comicsprache (vgl. E.J. Havlik: Lexikon der Onomatopöien. Die lautimitierenden Wörter im Comic, Frankfurt am Main 1981) und im engl. die bekannte Verlaufsform von to do

just found one in one of the other threads:
placket (D: imperative of placken=to travail, E= Leiste)

hast (E: e.g. Shakespeare, Sonnet 42: "That thou hast her, it is not all my grief")
Hast (D: hurry)

dost (E: e.g. Shakespeare, Sonnet 4: "Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend")
Dost (D: a medical plant, it. Oregano, scientific name "Origanum vulgare")

Sorry that I didn't include this one into my last (and similar) posting, but the idea came to me during the night.

@Hans Wolff: Well, I think it's time to paint the porch... :-))

I forgot to ask before :-( ....
PA mentioned that "smoking" in English and in German looks back at the same origin, which is most likely. But does anybody know the reason for developing a totally different meaning in the German language? Unfortunately I do have no source to look it up, yet would be interested to know how the different meanings developed. Or can somebody tell me where I might be able to look it up? Thanks in advance!

Heinz H, I have finished the first coat of paint on my porch. Thanks for reminding me. Since I have to wait for the paint to dry, I have some time to look up "smoking" (Etymologie-Duden):
Smoking ist die Kurzform von smoking-suit oder smoking-jacket. Gemeint ist ein Jackett, das man in England nach dem Mittagsmahl zum "Rauchen" anzog, um den Frack zu schonen.

Vielen Dank, Hans! Even so it originated in English, smoking is - as far as I know - in respect of a garment not used or known anymore in this language. Quite interesting that the Germans picked it up and saved this meaning from extinction. Obviously our flair for Anglicisms has a long history.
By the way: I hope your paint has dried up; it looks pretty much like rain is just around the corner. :-)

@Heinz H.: As far as I know, "smoking jacket" is still used in the English language. Interestingly, the German "Smoking" or "Smokingjackett" denotes a prim dinner jacket, while the English "smoking jacket" is much more casual, sort of a "Hausjacke".

Neither do I own a porch nor am I obliged to paint one. Thus, I could luckily hunt down another gang of Enemies. Btw, there is not a scrap of an addictive "False Enemy Syndrome" (FES). I could stop easily catching those f****ing words, if I only wanted to...

dicker (D: thicker; E: feilschen)
junker (D: donzel, squire; E: [sl.] Schrottkarre)
knack (D: snap; E: Kniff)
knacker. (D: kind of sausage; E: Abdecker)
knacks (D: crack; E: Tricks)
knicker (D: niggard; E: Schlüpfer)
linker (D: left, leftie; E: Verknüpfer)
pule (D: imperative of ‘pulen’=to pick; E: piepsen)
puller (D: piddle, cf. Puller-Alarm!; E: Abzieher)
racker (D: varmints; E: cf- MW)
sicken (D: to welt; E: erkranken)
trinket (D: form of ‘trinken’=to drink; E: Schmuckstück)
tucker (D: chug; E: [austr.] Essen)

Syl-de,
don't you know that this "I could stop any time" attitude is one of the typical symptoms of FES addiction? You are deluding yourself. I implore you: Please, please, seek help!! Find the nearest chapter of FES Anonymous. Don't get sucked into the maelstrom any deeper.

Ich will syl das Feld nicht ganz alleine überlassen, doch habe ich das Gefühl, dass nicht mehr viel übrig ist... Ist "well" ein deutsches Wort? Z.B: die Aufforderung an das Blech oder das Haupthaar: "Well dich!" ;-)

Grille (D: cricket, E: Grillrestaurant, cf. "bar & grille")

Got another one!

Fes (D: the musical note F-flat)
FES (E: False-Enemy Syndrom)

;-)

Schreibt man bar&grille wirklich mit e am Ende oder nur bar&grill, oder gibts beides?
Ich will ES nicht den Punkt streitig machen, es kommt mir nur komisch vor...

@ K.S.: keine Ahnung ob in UK, aber in USA auf jeden Fall sehr geläufige Schreibweise (s. Link)
http://45701.com/skippers/skip-lo-sm.GIF

Merriam-Webster kennt zwar nicht das Grillrestaurant aber:
grille (or grill) /'gril/
Etymology: French grille, alteration of Old French greille, from Latin craticula, diminutive of cratis wickerwork Date: 1686
1 : a grating forming a barrier or screen; especially : an ornamental one at the front end of an automobile
2 : an opening covered with a grille
Der Punkt geht eindeutig an ES!

Bar & Grille bringt mich noch auf einen anderen Falschen Feind:
bar (D: wie in "Bargeld" cash, E: Stange)

@Reinhard II: Thanks for the hint! I always thought f-flat in German is simply "e". Therefore I checked a website on musical notes, low and behold what did I find?

fes (D: the musical note F-flat; E: Fez, die Kopfbeeckung)
his (D: the musical note B-sharp; E: sein
und wie ich so über den Noten brüte...
brüte/brute (D: form of 'brüten'=to brood; E: brutal)
guts (D: genitive of 'Gut'=manor; E: Mut)

ES, "bar" was already posted on Oct 16 by our chief False-Enemy catcher, syl-de.

Hans, syl-de hat es aber als Bär/bar gepostet, nicht als bar/bar. Ist doch ein Unterschied, oder?

@syl-de: f-flat is enharmonically equivalent to e. It is the same key on a piano, but when a very careful violinist plays the two notes, then e is a little bit higher than f-flat.

Another one:
as (D: musical note a-flat, E: als)

@Reinhard II: that's what I also learnt from that website. Thanks for explaining. I am sorry to say, but "as" was already included in Peter's very first posting (albeit he meant the German 'as' as the note or the ace).

flies (E: fly/ Dt: fliesen)

Sorry guys, there's no scoring for "fes". Believing syl-de, it's a turkish sort of hat (like a small upside-down bucket, dark red, with a piece of black string fixed on top) in English. I'm afraid it's the same in German: "der Fes". Have a look at LEOs Karl-May-Server, especially "von Bagdad nach Stambul" or another one out of that series, go into the text, press alt-f and search for Fes...

@Ghol: You are right, but may I add that the imperative sing. of "fliesen" is not very common in German ;-)

@K.S.: Althogh 'Fes' (sometimes: Fés) is the same in English and German (the hat as well as the Moroccan city) there is also a completely different word in German: fes, the musical note (f-flat). According to Peter's Definition of 18 Aug, #9, it does not matter if words have two separate meanings, where one of them is only a cognate.
Cf. the resp. entries in dictionaries
http://mr-check.xipolis.net/1849f11f27d285e35...
http://www.bartleby.com/61/71/F0097100.html

This would be absolutely boring! There are tons of words that have the same pronounciation and the same meaning in English and in German and then also some other meanings. There is nothing special about that, just look LEO up and down. I always looked for words that have definitely different meanings - and most of those listed above do. But they are those really hard to find...

@K.S. definitely quite an artificial suggestion (not the only one): Reminds me of the linguists' famous sentence "John runs" -- quite evidently perfect English, but no-one could think of a convincing situation when anyone would *ever* say that... Is that worth a new thread?

@K.S.: I am quite curious where to find the „tons of words" you mentioned that would meet our False Enemy definition. May I once more refer you to Peter's definition of 18 Aug (esp. No. 9). It is not about „some other meaning", but about words that are spelled identically and have completely different origins in both languages. It is the unrelated origin not the differing meaning that make those words False Enemies. In cases where a word in one language has more than one meaning/origin - according to our rules - it is enough, if _one_ of these meanings/origins corresponds with a unrelated False Enemy in the other language. The second meaning/origin that might be identical in both languages can be ignored. Peter has cited „arm" as an example. Although the word in German and English denotes the same part of the body and has the same etymological root it nevertheless is a False Enemy: the second German meaning „arm" (poor) has a completely different etymology and is therefore a real False Enemy to the English "arm" (body part). Same applies to a number of our entries - and the „fes". The German word for the musical note and the Morrocan hat/city have definitely unrelated meanings and different deriviations.
@Ghol: What's so artificial about a hat and a note? Google proves that both words are really being used. At least, used more often than the imperative of 'fliesen' ;-)

@syl-de: I wasn't taking a swipe at your latest words. "Hut ab" to your many contributions. As a child I wanted a fes, and I've played weird things like Fes or Eis before.

prise (D: eine Prise Salz, E: prize sth. open)
holder (D: holder Frühling, E: Halter, Griff)
wedding (D: Stadtteil von Berlin, E: Hochzeit)

This weekend being astonishingly warm and sunny has kept me from my favourite leisure activity most of the time. In the end, sunday evening’s storm has allowed me to collect at least some new suspects:

abate (D: Italian or Spanish secular priest; E: vermindern)
aids (D: immunodeficency disease; E: Hilfen)
bärge/barge (D: form of „bergen"=to salvage"; E: Lastkahn)
bäte/bate (D: form of „bitten"=to beg; E: vermindern)
blade (D: Austrian for fatso ; E: Schneide)
bürg/burg (D: imperative of „bürgen"=to vouch; E: Stadt, Burg)
büß/buss (D: imperative of „büßen"=to expiate; E: Kuss)
düst/dust (D: imperative of „düsen"=to dash; E: Staub)
gaff (D: imperative of „gaffen"=to gape; E: Fischhaken)
gaffe (D: imperative of „gaffen"=to gape; E: Fauxpas)
grade (D: straight; E: Grad)
Mäster/master (D: one who is fattening animals; E: Meister)
mess (D: imperative of „messen"=to measure; E: Unordnung)
möve/move (D: seagull [old Bavarian spelling - does that count?]; E: bewegen)
paps (D: daddy; E: Breie)
rage (D: form of „ragen"=to protrude; E: Zorn)
rüst/rust (D: imperative of „rüsten"=to arm; E: Rost)
säle/sale (D: halls; E: Verkauf)
säte/sate (D: past form of „säen"=to seed; E: sättigen)
Sünder/sunder (D: sinner; E: trennen)
wäre/ware (D: form of „sein"=to be; E: Ware)

and again some relatives of already known Enemies:
funds, grinds, ranges, stabs, stalls

Amazing, syl! May I add this one:

rank (D: rank und schlank=lite and lissom, E: Rang)

"wider" (as opposed to "wieder"),given by stefan i think, is arguably not a word but a morpheme since "wider" needs an additional element to form a complete word: "widerspruch", "erwidern" and so on, so i wouldn't include it. Going by the rules, anyway...

Marc, schon mal die Redensart "Für und Wider" (pros and cons) gehört? Oder "wider besseren Willens"? Oder "Wider den tierischen Ernst"?
Wider ist noch quicklebendig !!

hm wolf hast wohl recht gell? sorry, didn't want to clog the thread.

@syl-de: sorry, but I object against "mess". The imperative of "messen" is "miss" (new spelling) or "miß" (old spelling), but definitely not "mess".

"Miss" was contained in your posting of Oct. 21, 17:33:04 alreadfy.

Reinhard, I am afraid you are right. In my south German idiom I tend to use 'meß' instead of 'miß' (and I tend to stick to the old spelling). Nevertheless 'meß' is no proper word. I'll try to find ersatz...

Just came across
unbar (D: cashless; E: aufsperren)
hope that will make up for the 'mess' ;-)

plumps (D: bump?; E: Lote)

Könne mess im Deutschen vielleicht "Mess"' sein in einem Gedicht, in dem jemand zwar etwas für sein Seelenheil tut, aber aus rhythmischen Gründen das e nicht brauchen kann?

Arrgrgrg -- this thread is driving me nuts! No matter how hard I try, I cannot think of any false enemies. But this morning, with the help of the last entry, I found one!

messer (DE:knife, E: apparently a purveyor of meat for ships or one who makes a mess, a muddler)

Well, congratulations to Doris for joining the ranks of people with FES

Donjo, that's it! Indeed "Meß/Mess" is used frequently for "heilige Messe" in catholic areas. Try for example a Google-check of "Kölsche Mess". I found various attempts to assure one's Seelenheil like this: "Ich, Georg Laiminger zu Oettling und Angatha, meine eheliche Hausfrau, stiften eine ewige Meß in St. Andreas Capellen auf dem Berg..." ( http://www.ettling.de/kirche.htm )

@Doris: congratulations and welcome! I was really surprised at your complete abstinence so far. However, be careful, this sport is highly addictive...

still d: leise, e: immer noch

can't believe it! Cheers to dg!

Sorry that I have to object to dg's "still". The English adverb/function word (immer noch) has the same origin as the adjective "still" (still, leise). This English "still" and the German "still" are going back to the same Germanic roots. Nevertheless "still" is a true false enemy:
STILL (D: still, quiet; E: destillieren, Destillerie (short for to distill/distillery)

Before syl is going to deliver one of his enormous weekend-posts, I‘m adding my humble contribution by now.
Gras (D: grass - E: Mardi Gras)
rats (D: des Rats =advice, council - E: Ratten)

Abort?? Don't know if it has the same origin.

Bingo, Gabrielle! Although 'abort' means the same in both languages (Fehlgeburt/miscarriage) and has the same origin (from Latin 'abortus', past participle of 'aboriri'=to miscarry) it is still a False Enemy: In German there is a second word 'Abort' derived from the lower German 'af-ort' (remote place) meaning toilet.

PA, you seem to have waited for it ;-) Here we go:

Bärs/bars (D: genitive of Bär=bear; E: Bars, Schranken)
baste (D: trump card, raffias; E: heften, begießen)
bäte/bate (D: form of "bitten"=to beg; E: nachlassen)
brook (D: sailor's knot; E: Bach)
bode (D: river, confluent of river Saale; E: to bode ill/well)
dinge (D: things; E: schmuddelig)
düster/duster (D: gloomy; E: Staublappen)
ewe (D: west-African people and language; E: Mutterschaf)
flüster/fluster (D: imperative of "flüstern"=to whisper; E: aufregen)
gable (D: form of "gabeln"=to bifurcate; E: Giebel)
grabs (D: cf. to be up for grabs; E genitive of "Grab"=grave)
grad (D: graduiert, Grad; E: just)
grams (D: genitive of "Gram"=grief; E: Großmütter u.a.)
gran (D: grain; E: Oma)
grünt/grunt (D: es grünt so grün~it turns green; E: grunzen)
hades (D: Hades; E: Neigungswinkel [pl.])
hake (D; form of "haken"=to hook; E: Seehecht)
Häme/hame (D: malice; E: Teil des Zaumzeugs, or: Scottish: Heim)
hiss (D: imperative of "hissen"=to hoist; zischen)

kibble (D: form of "kibbeln"=to be angry; E: mahlen)
kor (D: past of "küren"=to choose; E: antike Maßeinheit)
köre/kore (D: form of "küren"=to choose; E: Kore, antike Frauenstatue)
läse/lase (D: form of "lesen"=to read; E: lasern)
lode (D: bot.: "umgepflanzter Schößling"; E: Erzader)
loden (D: Berlin: too long hair; E: Lodenstoff)
magen (D: stomach; E: Magen David=Davidsstern)
marl (D: Westphalian city; E: mergel)
mars (D: the planet M.; E: schädigt)
mögen/mogen (D: to like; E: Mogen David=Davidsstern)
murre (D: form of "murren"=to grumble; E: Trottellumme, der Vogel)
rase (D: form of "rasen"=to rush; E: vernichten)
ratter (D: imperative of "rattern"=to clatter; E: Rattenfänger)
rennet (D: imperative of "rennen"=to run; E: Kälbermagen, Lab)
rode (D: form of "roden"=to stub; E: past of to ride)
Rübe/rube (D: turnip; E: "an awkward unsophisticated person", M-W)
rubble (D: form of "rubbeln"=to judder; E: Schutt)
ruder (D: rudder; E: ungehobelter)
rumple (D: form of "rumpeln"=to rumble; E: zerknittern)

sät/sat (D: imp of "säen"=to sow; E: past of to sit)
sauté (D: form of "sauen"=to mess up; E: sautiert)
spar (D: imperative of "sparen"=to save; E: Holm)
späte/spate (D: form of "spät"=late; E: Hochwasser)
spätes/spates (D: form of "spät"=late; E: große Summen)
spats (D: spavin's; E: Gamaschen)
tales (D: genitive of "Tal"=valley; E: Erzählungen)
talks (D: genitive of "Talk"= talcum; E: spricht)
taster (D: calliper, scanner; E: Vorkoster)
Täter/tater (D: committer; E: coll. für Kartoffel)
tatter (D: imperative of "tattern"=to tremble; E: Lumpen)
trug (D: past of "tragen"=to carry, or: deception; E: Gartenkorb)

Yes, I do have a life! : ) Have a nice week all!

I knew it! How are you doing that? And when do you have your 'other' life?

Kann es sein, dass ich trotz der bereits vorhandenen phaenomenalen Liste auch eins gefunden habe?

red (D: Imp. von reden(zumind. umgangssparchlich) - E:rot)

und noch eins:
well (D: Imp. von sich wellen; to wave, E: gut oder Brunnen)

splint D: cotter pin E: der Span
... und hier einer, der die Spielregel etwas ausdehnt:
RAF D: Rote Armee Fraktion E: Royal Air Force

Well done, Silke! even if 'well' has already been proposed - by myself ; )

syl-de, honestly, how in the world are you doing that? What's your secret recipe for False Enemy catching? I am happy if I find one or two, but you produce them by the dozens !!

I am setting snares for them - and they are trapped before you can say FES... To be honest, my secret recipe contains rainy weekends, two good dictionaries, LEO, and the latest edition of "Golden Rules for the Funny False Enemy Hunt. 10 Successful Hunting Strategies Based on Recognisable Patterns in False Enemy Behaviour". This valuable little booklet can be ordered from me for only 100 USD/EUR.

Btw, I have to correct the very first entry of my weekend posting. The English tranlation of 'Bär/Bärs' should read 'ram, pile-driver' instead of 'bear'. Of course, the genitive of the animal would be 'des Bären', while the genitive of the ramming device of the same name is "des Bärs".

syl-de, about your Bär troubles - don't feel bad, I had some of these myself. See

http://www.leo.org/cgi-bin/dict/forum/forum.c...

Where I got the accusative of Bär wrong (as Ingrid was quick to point out).

Glad that I could correct myself before Ingrid got wind of the mistake ;-) Your Bär troubles might have to do with your last name...

Sums:
D= unnoetiges Gerede
E= amounts

lunger
D: imperative of lungern=to loaf
E: Lungenkranker

are: sind - Mz. von Ar
most: Saft - höchst, größt
plant: to map - Anlage
Stag: stay - Hirsch
Stage: stays - Bühne

ds, kommst du aus der schweiz? wegen der merkwürdigen Stag-Wörter ; )
übrigens, 'most' hatten wir schon. : (

sg, du hast mich auf ein paar weitere 'merkwürdige Wörter' gebracht ;-)

rag (D: imperative of "ragen"= to protrude; E: Lumpen)
vag (D: vaque; E: slang für Landstreicher u.anderes)
zag (D: imperative of "zagen"=to hesitate; E: in etwa: Haken vgl. M-W)
prang (D: imperative of "prangen"= to flaunt; E: brit: Unfall)
stages (D: genitive of "stage"= Swiss for work placement or so...; E: Bühnen)

Holt schon mal den Schampus aus dem Kühlschrank...
Get the bubbly from the fridge...

Zum "Jubiläum" spendiere ich eine aktualisierte Liste. Gesamtumfang 640 Wörter!

Undisputed entries (575):

A-F:
ab, abate, abo, abort, ad, aids, all, alm, also, alter, am, an, angel, anger, angle, apart, are, arm, arms, art, as, ass, back, backer, bad, bade, bake, bald, band, bang, bap, bär, bärge, bark, barren, bärs, base, bass, baste, bat, bäte, bäte, be, beck, beet, befall, behalf, bell, belle, berate, bezirk, bezirks, bier, bilge, bin, bitten, blade, blasé, blast, blender, block, bob, bode, bog, boot, born, brat, bratling, brook, brüte, bück, bücket, bug, bunt, bürg, büss, butt, christendom, dang, dank, dankest, den, dick, dicker, die, diene, dies, ding, dinge, doing, doll, dose, dost, drum, duck, durst, düst, düster, eleven, elf, else, em, email, er, erst, es, ewe, fad, falter, fast, fasten, fastest, fee, fell, fells, fern, fes, fester, fetter, fink, finks, firm, first, flame, flatter, fleck, flick, flicker, flies, flog, floss, flüster, fond, form, former, fort, frag, fries, fug, fund, funds, funk, für, fürther, furze, fuss, gab

G-L:
gable, gaby, gaff, gaffe, gaffer, gage, gar, gas, Gaul, geld, genie, germ, gib, gilt, glut, göre, grab, grabs, grad, grade, gram, grams, gran, grant, Gras, grate, griff, grille, grind, grinds, grips, gross, grub, grünt, guck, gut, guts, hades, hag, hake, half, hall, häme, happen, harken, hart, hast, haste, hasten, hat, haute, heck, heft, held, hell, heller, heller, helm, her, herb, herd, herein, hinge, his, hiss, hob, hock, hocker, hold, holder, hole, holler, horst, hotter, hub, hummer, hut, inn, ire, island, jag, jammer, junker, kerb, kibble, kind, kipper, kitten, knack, knacker, knacks, knicker, kohl, kor, köre, lab, lack, lad, lade, laden, lag, lake, läse, lass, last, latte, latten, lech, leer, leg, lest, lied, lief, liege, lies, limo, limos, link, linker, links, list, listen, lob, lobe, loch, lock, locker, lode, loden, log, löge, lore, lose, loser, loses, löss, lost, lot, lug, lüge, lump, lunge, lunger, lurch, lurches

M-R:
mach, mâche, made, mag, magen, main, male, malt, man, männer, mantel, mär, marge, mark, marl, mars, mass, mast, mäster, mate, matte, matter, maul, mess, messer, messing, met, minder, mine, mint, miss, mist, mitten, modern, mögen, mole, moll, Moor, moos, moose, moped, mops, most, möve, müd, muff, mull, mure, murks, murre, muse, muss, muster, mute, mutter, natter, neck, nett, netter, nix, not, note, nun, nut, pack, page, paps, pate, pike, placket, plane, plant, plump, plumps, Po, pole, police, poller, posse, prang, prise, pro, puff, puffs, pule, puller, pulli, pummel, pump, pup, pups, quake, qualm, qualms, quark, quell, quote, racker, rad, rag, rage, rain, rand, rang, range, ranges, rank, rappel, rappels, raps, rase, rat, rate, rats, ratter, red, regal, reif, rein, rennet, rest, ret, reuse, rick, riff, rind, rinds, ring, rings, rock, rocks, rode, roll, rose, röster, rot, rote, rotten, rubble, rübe, ruck, ruder, rumple, rums, rüst

S-Z:
sack, sag, sage, säger, sagest, sake, säle, salve, same, sarge, sass, sät, säte, sauté, schmuck, schnalzen, see, seen, seine, seines, sense, sicken, siege, singe, sold, sole, span, spanner, spar, spare, spat, späte, spätes, spats, speck, spelt, spiel, splint, spötter, spree, spur, spurt, stab, stabs, stag, stage, stages, stall, stalls, star, stare, stern, stile, still, stock, stolen, store, strand, stuck, such, sud, summer, sums, sünder, sure, süss, tag, tags, tale, tales, talk, talks, tang, tank, tarn, taste, taster, tat, täter, tatter, taut, tee, teil, teller, tellers, these, tick, tier, tod, toll, ton, tor, tore, törn, tot, tote, totes, trans, traps, trier, trinket, trug, trunk, tucker, tülle, tun, tut, unbar, unreel, vag, wade, wag, wage, wale, walker, wallet, wand, wank, want, war, ward, wäre, wart, was, watt, wedding, welch, well, welt, wen, werf, wetten, wetter, wider, wog, worms, wort, zag

Disputed entries (65):

after, Allen, artist, beamer, blank, bomber, brand, brave, braver, brief, cafeteria, chef, colt, courage, fade, fall, fang, fix, fusion, gang, genial, genie, gift, glibber, gymnasium, hamburger, handy, hang, haste, hose, just, labor, lager, mode, null, old-timer, pest, Platte, pope, post, probe, promotion, provision, pylon, queue, quote, RAF, roller, roman, routine, smoking, spinner, spleen, spring, springer, stand, stark, strafe, tripper, turn, turner, wall, web, will, wink

speaking of AR :)

what are you doing *here*? go and stick with your 'derogative terms'...

1) Pütt-putt
D=Grube
E=a golf swing

2)Putz
D=plaster or imperative of putzen
E=idiot(slang)

fest:
D= bestaendig,zaeh,stark,usw.
E= occasion,gathering (from German Fest)(found
in several online dictionaries as an inde-
pendent word)

zig:
D=many(seit zig Jahren)
E=to zig (I zigged when I should have zagged)

um:
D= (preposition)
E= (hesitation word)

@ PA: Ich komme aus Hamburg, lebe jetzt in Bayern. Ein Stag spannt den Mast eines Segelbootes in Längsrichtung ab (Wanten quer).
Vermutlich bedeutet das Wort in der Schweiz etwas anderes?
Sorry für most.

dös (Imperativ von to doze) - does (es tut)
Müll (garbage) als Ergänzung zu dem bereits genannten mull

Skull (D) = rudder for sport boats
skull (E) = Schaedel

I don't know the origin of the German word Skull and have no idea whether it is in any way connceted to "Schaedel".

Deck (D) = same word in English
deck (E) = Spielkartenstapel

I Don't know if this counts if the english word also has the same meaning, among others

gaze (E) = bestaunen, anstarren
Gaze (D) = gauze

plan D: die Platte ist plan/eben E: Entwurf etc.
Fleet D: schiffbarer Kanal in Städten E: Flotte
drops D: saure Drops E: to drop
Rom D: Hauptstadt von Italien E: read only memory
Term D: math. Ausdruck E: Amtszeit

Whith this URL, a decent English dictionary (word list) an a bit of scripting it would be possible to automate the search
http://mr-check.xipolis.net/1849f11f27d285e35...
simply feed the wordlist into wget and replace the XXX by the words from the list. This will produce a rather comprehensive list of F.E.s and F.F.s. But it would also blow the fun.

Finally I had the time to go through all the given definitions of false enemies. And I dare to say that right now I have understood. Considering that, I have to admit that most of the "tons of words" I mentioned above don't really fit and can be thrown away immediately. By the way, anyone who is looking for some interesting new words may be interested to have a look at Douglas Adams' "The Meaning Of Liff" and "The Deeper Meaning Of Liff". Read and enjoy (the concept's not a bad one - we might pick it up here when some day this thread has run out).

for Peter or Thread-Polizei: do acronyms count(ROM--Read Only Memory)?

drop - probably cognate
deck - probably cognate
fest-Fest - are these cognates im deutschen?

That:
D= in der That!
E= demonstrative
(do old spellings count?

Do names count?
Till-till (D. männl. Vorname; E: until)

1)Bums
D="thud"
E=Penner

2)Dings
D=variant of Ding
E=plural of ding

3)Tippet
D=subjunctive 1 2nd person plural of tippen(ihr tippet)
E=shoulder covering or cape

4)Mucks
D=keinen Mucks sagen
E=3rd person singular of to muck

5)Mucker
D=Schleicher
E=someone who mucks

6)Muckers
D= genetive of Mucker
E= plural of mucker

lustige Idee...

tube(auf deutsch nur "tube" auf eglisch aber (neben "Tube")fast unzählig viele bedeutungen)
nick, brut (trocknen/brood), soda (?),
alt ("alt"-key??),
he (not really a german word),
fallen, germane (auf den bin ich ganz stolz),
agent, nag, teenager :-) (Auch wenn "Teenager" nicht wirklich ein deutsches Wort ist, denke ich es ist ein "falscher Feind", da man "Teenager" auch auf deutsch lesen kann, obwohl es nicht wirklich Sinn macht)
pause, bit, reservoir,