i have just learnt that in Swedish a växelöra is a part of a bike. The literal translation is ‘gear ear’ .

Can you guess what bike part it might be? Any other funny names in a different language? Northern counts too.

According to the internet, German for grease is schmieren, as in smear

Smear in , Shirley?

Dérailleur!!

Like it de-rails the chain or something!
Haha stupid French

It worth knowing what Sram means in Polish. Especially if you are in Poland and had a dodgy meal.

According to the internet, German for grease is schmieren, as in smear

schmieren is the verb, as in to grease. Grease is either Schmierstoff (smear stuff) or Fett (fat) depending on application

I’m sure there was a Kona model that turned out to be Portuguese for a ladies naughty bits.

A german biker can up to us at the mega asking if we had an ankle, after some pointing and looking turns out he was after a mech hanger for his Enduro. We couldn’t help so we sent him over to ask Brendan Fairclough as he was riding for spec at the time 🙂

Beagleboy – Member

I’m sure there was a Kona model that turned out to be Portuguese for a ladies naughty bits.

I’ve heard them described as worse…

So which part is the ‘gear ear’?

“Pompino” is italian for “pump”. Expect it’s not, it’s also a slang term for a blowjob

I’m sure there was a Kona model that turned out to be Portuguese for a ladies naughty bits.

It’s all of them, Kona is the offending word…

So which part is the ‘gear ear’?

I’m guessing mech hanger.

Slight thread hijack here, this reminds me of:

English / German motoring terms

My favourite:
SEATBELTS – Der klunkenklicker frauleintrapper

Another two Polish bike parts names to break your tongues:

seat post = sztyca (read: sch-ty-tsa)

spokes = szprychy (read: sch-pry-hy).

The funny thing is that a bottom bracket has an English name in Poland, but it is totally different – it is called “support” 8)

A german biker can up to us at the mega asking if we had an ankle

That seemed to happen a lot when speaking English with Germans. There are lots of words that translate to English words that are sort of related but in practice mean something quite different. Some people are completely sure of their translations so will happily continue talking confidently whilst actually creating nonsense 🙂 Seems to be a thing with Germanic languages for some reason – perhaps due to the close relationship.

slowoldman – Member
So which part is the ‘gear ear’?

I’m guessing mech hanger.

Yep mech hanger . LOL at pompino

Not really on thread but a German friend saw my bike in the kitchen and started talking about my tyres.

Apparently Schwalbe is German for swallow (as in the bird). But more interestingly she confirmed how to say it correctly. It always amused me the funny ways people say Schwalbe.

She was also telling me what Hans Dampf means. Apparently it is the image of a man who always attends the most important parties and is always the centre of attention, men aspire to be him… or something like that. I’m sure a German speaking STWer can tidy that one up. A fitting name given, that in some people’s eyes, it became the tyre that everyone wanted and can be seen at every trail centre.