[x] Close ad

KRAUT

Contents

Ethnic slur

The German word Kraut when standing alone in the United States is used almost exclusively as an ethnic slur against Germans. Among Americans this is the principal recognized use of the word.

Etymological foundations

It is also a generic term that is often used in compound nouns for cabbage, cabbage products and many herbs, cognate with Dutch kruid (only herb):

  • Sauerkraut = pickled sour cabbage
  • Weißkraut = green cabbage (literally "white cabbage")
  • Blaukraut or Rotkraut = red cabbage (also called Rotkohl)
  • Rübenkraut = thick sugar beet syrup
  • Bohnenkraut = Savory
  • Unkraut = Weed

Originally, in formal speech, it was almost never used alone, but the plural form, Kräuter, translates to the English herbs or herbage. For example, Kräutertee is herbal tea .

Use in Slang

In former times, Kraut was used as a colloquial expression for tobacco, especially loose tobacco for pipes. Today it is sometimes used for marijuana.

Since World War II, Kraut has, in the American English language, come to be used as a derogatory term for a German. This is probably based on Sauerkraut, which was very popular in German cuisine at that time. The stereotype of the sauerkraut-eating German dates back to long before this time, though, as can for example be seen in Jules Verne's depiction of the evil German industrialist Schultz as an avid sauerkraut eater in "The Begum's Millions".

Maybe, the origin is somewhat older: Raw sauerkraut is an excellent source of Vitamin C. Captain James Cook always took a store of sauerkraut on his sea voyages, since experience had taught him that it was an effective remedy against scurvy. Later, on British ships, sauerkraut was mostly replaced by lime juice (for the same purpose). But German sailors continued with the use of kraut, calling their British colleagues "limies" and being similarly called "krauts".

Krautrock is a popularly accepted term for a form of highly experimental German post-Prog Rock of the late 1960s and 1970s. Krautrock was typified by acts such as Amon Düül, Kraftwerk, Neu!, Tangerine Dream, Faust, Can as well as many others.

Under the title "Krauts" J. Corinth described his experiences as a German prisoner of war in North Carolina and as immigrant to California (ISBN 3-935111-14-2).

Krauts is also an Irish language novel by Máirtín Ó Muilleoir about young Northern Irish students trying to find employment in Germany in the early eighties.

See also

External links