[A series of Tumblr posts. The first shows a picture of ravioli, and reads: “This dish has another name - herrgottsb’scheisserle or ‘Fool the Lord’ - because of the story of how it first came about. One of the most popular theories is that the Cistercian monks of Maulbronn Monastery (hence the name Maultaschen) didn’t want to go without meat during Lent observance. So they concealed the forbidden food from the sight of the Lord by enclosing it in pasta dough.”

The next Tumblr quote post reads: “Ravioli Of Lying To God”

The final Tumblr quote post reads: “God: What are you eating? Cistercian Monk: chews faster”]

    • morhp@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
      0·
      6 months ago

      “Bescheissen” is not as vulgar as you might think, even if it contains Scheisse (shit).

      A more literal translation would be “little Good Lords cheat”. The “*le” at the end is a local (South German) dialect thing, a diminutive suffix meaning “little”, just like “doggy” means “little dog”.

      • ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de
        0·
        6 months ago

        Yeah. I am not a native speaker of either language though, is “shitting sb.” something one might say?

        Anyway, the etymology, as I understand it, is:

        • Herr Gott/Herrgott: “Lord”, or literally “Mr God”, typical way German-speaking Christians address God
        • bescheißen: screw, bullshit
        • -erie: French feminine noun ending, sometimes used as the English “-er”

        So yeah, you could translate it as “thing to bullshit the Lord”, or “Godbullshitter”.

        • Gabrial@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          0·
          6 months ago

          Token German chiming in

          You got most of it quite right, except the ending. It’s -erle, or really just -le (depending on where you split the word). The suffix is used to change a word to sound smaller, cute, playful and generally less serious. It also has a southern accent/sound to me, but take that with a pinch of salt. Not sure if there is an english comparison. Its similar to another german suffix: -chen

        • Gurfaild@feddit.de
          0·
          6 months ago

          “Herr” doesn’t mean “Mr” in this context, but [feudal] lord instead, so a more accurate translation would be “Lord God”