Free refills on soft drinks and coffee are standard in American restaurants, and portion sizes are a recognised point of international comparison. Abundance is part of what is being sold.
words
Works peace
Betriebsfrieden. Works peace. A concept in German labour law: the works council and employer are under a statutory duty to cooperate in a spirit of mutual trust and to refrain from acts that disturb it. Peace inside the firm is a legal object, with duties attached to preserving it.
The specialist idiot
A word for someone with deep command of a narrow field and no grasp of anything beyond it.
It is used with contempt, and it is reserved for the genuinely expert. You cannot be a Fachidiot without first being a Fachmann.
A culture that needs a word for the excess of a virtue has thought hard about the virtue.
The unlimited contract
The German word for a permanent contract is unbefristet — unlimited, without an end date. The fixed-term contract is befristet, limited. The permanent one is named by what it lacks. The ending is the exception, and the language treats its absence as the normal state.
Economy as a virtue
Wirtschaftlich — economical, and also simply commercial. One adjective for both.
Haushalten — to keep house, used of managing any resource including time and attention.
Auf Verschleiß fahren — to drive on wear, to run something down without maintaining it, and it is an accusation.
Sich verzetteln — to scatter oneself across too many slips of paper, to fritter effort away.
Understanding of the matter
Sache, the matter. Verstand, understanding. Sachverstand is understanding of the matter itself.
English took expertise from the Latin expertus, tried and tested by experience. The English word points at what has happened to the person. The German word points at the subject.
Two cultures locating the same quality in different places.
Notice periods
Kündigungsfristen. German statutory notice periods lengthen with service: from four weeks at the start, rising by steps, to seven months for someone with twenty years behind them. Time served converts into legal protection at a fixed exchange rate written in the Civil Code.
Asking the right person
Fragen Sie den Fachmann — ask the specialist.
Da müssen Sie den Experten fragen — you’ll have to ask the expert about that.
Das kann ich nicht beurteilen — I can’t judge that, said as a complete and unembarrassed answer.
A German declining to give an opinion outside his field is not being modest. He is observing a boundary he expects others to observe too.
Degree of effect
Degree of effect. The German word for efficiency in the engineering sense — output divided by input — and it appears in ordinary conversation about boilers, cars and appliances. The ratio is a household concept, not a specialist one.
The body of rules
Das Regelwerk — the work of rules. A German compound naming the whole structure of rules governing a field as a single object, used in engineering, sport, finance and administration. The rules are understood as a system rather than as a collection.