Franconian Word of the Month – February

Diecher /di:-chær/

Hochdeutsch: Tiger

English: see Hochdeutsch

A lot of couples have nicknames for each other. While in English some things like “bunny” and “kitten” seem to be popular for females, males oftentimes have to be satisfied with non-animal nicknames like “hubby”, “babe” or “trash”, except for one that crops up again and again: being the “tiger” of the relationship.

Now, Franconians are, as a lot of people will eagerly testify, a rough bunch. They do not smile much, they mostly only laugh at dirty jokes, and they meet newcomers with a certain amount of suspicion and sometimes even disdain. Truly, a Franconian is not easy to handle, which might be why if a Franconian male actually has a girlfriend, he might be referred to as her Diecher.

The tiger of the relationship is, according to various sources, the alpha. He likes to be independent and strong, yet is also very caring about his immediate family and friends. He is the king of the (city) jungle, a wild beast of wild parties, growling if needs be to ward off danger and is sometimes a cuddly kitten if he feels particularly down. Women dating such an animal adore him for the protection he offers, and regularly get angry at him for coming home late at nightand dead drunk.

As Franconians have a speech impediment they cover up as an “accent”, or “frängischs Mundwerch”, and being unable to pronounce the harshness of the letter T or, on the contrary, in certain circumstances the softness of the letter G, they created a word that only loosely resembles the German original and remindsus that, indeed, Franconians are a very weird, yet lovingly bunch.