word of the day: fleissig

The word of the day is fleissig:

diligent (Google translate)

"She was fleissig - the opposite of lazy."

 - Rainer Eppelmann, as quoted by George Packer, "The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker 

word of the day: bürgerlich

The word of the day is bürgerlich:

bourgeois (Google translate)

"In 1970, an incident exposed the fragile standing of the bürgerlich Kasner family.  At a local Party meeting, the Russian Club's latest triumph was announced, and Benn expected praise.  Instead, the schools supervisor observed acidly, 'When the children of farmers and workers win, that will be something.'"

 - George Packer, "The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker 

word of the day: jeremiad

The word of the day is jeremiad:

a prolonged lamentation or mournful complaint.

in reference to Jeremiah's Lamentations (dictionary.com)

"Sahra Wagenknecht, an orthodox Marxist in a brilliant-red suit, steps behind the lectern and berates Merkel for her economic and foreign policies, which, she says, are bringing Fascism back to Europe.  'We must stop abusing a highly dangerous, half-hegemonic position that Germany slid into, in the ruthless old German style,' Wagenknecht declares.  She then cites the French historian Emmanuel Todd: 'Unknowingly, the Germans are on their way to again take their role as bringers of calamity for the other European peoples, and later for themselves.'....

"The speaker ends her jeremiad, and the only people to clap are the members of Die Linke, isolated in the far-left section of the chamber."

 - George Packer, "The Quiet German: The astonishing rise of Angela Merkel, the most powerful woman in the world", 1 December 2014 The New Yorker