The vocabulary of the boundary

Dienst ist Dienst und Schnaps ist Schnaps — duty is duty and schnapps is schnapps. Two things, not to be mixed.

Nach Feierabend — after the working day, used as a time of day in its own right.

Urlaubsanspruch — holiday claim. Not an allowance or an entitlement in the soft sense. A claim, in the legal meaning, enforceable.

Abschalten — to switch off. What a German is expected to do at the end of the day, and the metaphor is electrical.

Celebration evening

Celebration-evening. The German word for the end of the working day, and there is no English equivalent because English has no word for the thing.

Ich mache Feierabend — I am making Feierabend — is a complete sentence and a complete explanation. The day’s work is over, and what follows is not called leisure or free time. It is called a celebration.

Sunday rest

Die Sonn- und Feiertagsruhe. Section 9 of the Working Hours Act prohibits work on Sundays and public holidays as a general rule, with exceptions for healthcare, transport, hospitality, emergency services and media. The protection of Sunday is not a workplace policy. It is a general prohibition with specific carve-outs, and the carve-outs have to be justified.

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