Frag mich etwas Leichteres.

Sentence Discussions German
#1
English Translation

Ask me something easier.

I think “Leichteres” should be in lowercase.

#2

No, it’s correct that L is a capital letter. It’s a nominalization of an adjective (German: leichter, English: lighter).

Many Germans (as I see it) confuse “leicht” (light) and “einfach” (easy).
(Edit: I reworded this sentence to make it sound less definite.)

If anything, it should (in my opinion) say “Frag mich etwas Einfacheres.”

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#3

What do you mean mistake? “leicht” and “schwer” a normal words for “easy” and “difficult”.
See meanings #2 at
leicht - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
schwer - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

#4

I think it’s a misnomer. And colloquially at best.

Similarly: “schwer” and “schwierig”. Although they are commonly used synonymously, I think people should distinguish between them. Example: A math problem or a question can’t be heavy or light because it has no weight. Similarly, it can’t be “schwer” or “leicht”, only “schwierig” (difficult) or “einfach” (easy).

There we have again the problem that if people[^1] use misnomers just often enough, the misnomers will eventually be included in the Duden (or other dictionaries) as synonyms (because “language is a living evolving thing”).

[1]: Most of whom don’t think that hard about the meaning of the words they use; as evidenced by the number of people who use “literally” when then mean “figuratively”.

#5

I think it’s a misnomer. And colloquially at best.

Well, I think limiting the meaning of “leicht” and “schwer” exclusively to weight is a big mistake in my opinion. You are of course entitled to your own opinion, but rephrasing what you once wrote: you mustn’t speak for the other 80 million germans, and teaching learners that this is wrong is not helpful.

Here are some more arguments:

  • Personally, these words have been used like this for as long as I can remember. That means it’s not a modern phenomenon or a “recent” change in the language. (With me being an old fart. But of course “recent” is relative)
  • Dictionaries are clear about the meaning.
  • There are derived words such as: schwergängig, erschweren, schwerhörig, schwer verdaulich, leicht löslich, leichtgläubig, that clearly are not related to weight. You want to tell me these words are all nonsense?
  • Wiktionary says in the etymology section: from Proto-Indo-European *swer- (“heavy, grave, serious”). This means it wasn’t restricted to just weight even back then.

I usually agree that people all too often use words the wrong way, and it bugs me for example when people say “besser wie du” instead of “besser als du”, but in this case I think you’re just being overzealous.

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#6

I’ll be the first to admit that. I might be, yes.

It’s just my personal opinion and how I myself use these words.

I’m only offering my opinion. If anyone wants to reject this opinion, that’s their right and perfectly fine.

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