Bridschabraad /bri – dʒa: – bra:d/
English: wasted AF
Deutsch: Pritschenbreit
As you have probably gathered by now, beer is a very highly valued commodity in Bavaria and Franconia. So much so, that for a lot of people here, a weekend without at least five beers in their belly cannot be called a proper hiatus to recover from the work week.
Which brings me to this month’s Franconian word, which is bridschabraad. It derives from the words Pritsche and breit, the second meaning “broad” or “broadly.” In the context of being drunk, “broad” should be understood as to how drunk one can get: the broader, the worse. Possibly because the more drunk one is, the longer and flatter one will lie on the ground.
The first word, though, may have quite a few origins, and so it is my enormous joy to yet again dive into the unknown world of utter linguistic nonsense to figure out the truest meaning of Pritsche—being absolutely, utterly, bloody wasted.
Pritsche can, for example, be the typical wooden flat beds found in medieval prisons or prisons from the Wild West; since these cells were usually used to lock some drunkard away, it would fit nicely with the German meaning.
It might, on the other hand, be related to the so-called Pritschenwagen, an old type of vehicle usually pulled by oxen or horses. Depending on how smart the animals were and how often they had trodden the same way to the market and back home, the driver was probably able to get away with a nice dose of alcohol, leaving the rest to the self-driving beasts.
Though it could be something completely different: the Pritsche is also a “weapon,” essentially consisting of a long, thin stick with a bladder attached to the end, used to humorously hit people on the head, apparently making a hilarious noise while doing so. While very much unused in this day and age, it was previously used to correct people’s misbehavior, though I have no idea how exactly it was supposed to work. Typically, you would find a king’s fool running around with such a contraption, and since a fool was usually the only person able to actually speak their mind to the king without having to fear repercussions, it might be kind of fitting.
In any case, running around with a stick in your hand with a bladder on the end, making funny noises while doing so, is definitely a course of action undertaken while being drunk, and therefore might just as well be the origin for the modern meaning of bridschabraad.
If reading all this made you thirsty, why not go to your local pub. People there will know the meaning of bridschabraad and probably other German words for being intoxicated, and with a bit of luck, we can then get bridschabraad together. Cheers!
