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Schmöker

English translation: pageturner, long novel, big (entertaining) book

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Schmöker
English translation:pageturner, long novel, big (entertaining) book
Entered by: astauber

12:02 Aug 11, 2004
German to English translations [PRO]
Poetry & Literature
German term or phrase: Schmöker
a book that you read
Ljubica
long novel, big (entertaining) book
Explanation:
you would never refer to a short, thin book as a Schmoeker.
Selected response from:

astauber
United States
Local time: 19:25
Grading comment
5
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +3potboiler
CMJ_Trans (X)
4 +2a good read
Cilian O'Tuama
3 +3A ripping yarn/a page turner
Sara Noss
3 +1depending on your context
Anna Bittner
4Good book
Annika Neudecker
4an undemanding but captivating book
swisstell
4long novel, big (entertaining) book
astauber
3trashy book / novel
jerrie
3 -1old book
Derek Gill Franßen
3 -1second rate novels
Terence Ajbro
4 -2penny dreadful, cheap novel
Andrew Vdovin


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Schmöker
old book


Explanation:
See: http://dict.leo.org/?search=schm�ker&searchLoc=0&relink=on&s...
:-)

Derek Gill Franßen
Germany
Local time: 02:25
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 16

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  astauber: does not imply value
20 mins
  -> I wasn't implying a value, but thank you for your constructive criticism. :-)
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2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Schmöker
a good read


Explanation:
Schmöker F m a good read; something good to read; dicker Schmöker thick tome

Langenscheidt

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Note added at 2 mins (2004-08-11 12:05:36 GMT)
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Schmöker Schmö|ker [>SmOùkŒ] m (-s, -) book (usu of light literature) ; (dick) tome
Collins

Cilian O'Tuama
Germany
Local time: 02:25
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 31

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Annika Neudecker: yeah, that's nice....
6 mins
agree  Derek Gill Franßen: An 'old book' can also be 'a good read'. ;-)
25 mins
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +1
Schmöker
depending on your context


Explanation:
Schmöker /'/ der; Schmökers, Schmöker (ugs.) lightweight adventure story/romance; ein dicker Schmöker: a thick tome of light reading

Duden-Oxford - Großwörterbuch Englisch. 2. Aufl. Mannheim 1999. [CD-ROM].

Anna Bittner
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in PolishPolish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Orla Ryan
1 hr
  -> thanks:)
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): -1
Schmöker
second rate novels


Explanation:
without more context this is all I can come up with. Usually associated with second class literature or trivial literature.

Terence Ajbro
Sweden
Local time: 02:25
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  astauber: not necessarily
19 mins
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2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): -2
Schmöker
penny dreadful, cheap novel


Explanation:
If it is what I understand.

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Note added at 3 mins (2004-08-11 12:06:24 GMT)
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In other context it can be a TRASHY BOOK

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 mins (2004-08-11 12:08:01 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Sharing some information about a unique, trashy book! You might LOL. ...
www.publishamerica.com/cgi-bin/ pamessageboard/data/lounge/4956.htm

\"My boyfriend saw me reading this book and said it was a trashy book. ...
www.litwomen.org/theme1.html

Andrew Vdovin
Local time: 07:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
disagree  Annika Neudecker: A "Schmöker" *can* be a trashy novel, but doesn't have to be. It's "light literature" but not necessarily trashy...
5 mins
disagree  Edhild: only positibe notions come to mind - snuggled up comfortably with a good read...with an
3 hrs
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6 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Schmöker
Good book


Explanation:
Unfortunately, there isn't an English word that expresses the exact meaning of "Schmöker" - at least, I've never heard of one...

A "Schmöker" is usually "light literature" - a book you get lost in, a book you can't put down...

Annika Neudecker
Germany
Local time: 02:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 4
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8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
Schmöker
trashy book / novel


Explanation:
If this reference is anything to go by:

Much to my surprise, the reference books I've consulted state that the German
colloquialisms "Schmoeker" (trashy book) and "schmoekern" (to read trashy
books) derive from a Low German word (not Yiddish) meaning a "smoked-up book."
I wonder, though, if Dr. Schmock's name played any part in the development of
these two German words?


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Note added at 9 mins (2004-08-11 12:12:40 GMT)
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http://shakti.trincoll.edu/~mendele/vol07/vol07.156

jerrie
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12
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10 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
potboiler


Explanation:
is the term that springs to mind - off the top of my head!

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Note added at 2004-08-11 13:26:37 (GMT)
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a thumping good yarn

CMJ_Trans (X)
Local time: 02:25
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 12

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Terence Ajbro: I have never heard this expression before in the UK
2 mins
agree  Dr Andrew Read: I've certainly heard it in the UK - if the definition is as above, then this would be an excellent translation.
23 mins
neutral  Cilian O'Tuama: Never heard the word before (not that that means anything). Merriam-Webster says: "a usually inferior work (as of art or literature) produced chiefly for profit" so obviously something that "helps pay the rent". I don't think that's implied by the German
28 mins
  -> as I understand it , it is the sort of big fat book you just cannot put down but it was off the top of my head
agree  Nancy Arrowsmith: very well-known in the US, but fairly pejorative. Since we don't have context, it's hard to know...
1 hr
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9 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Schmöker
an undemanding but captivating book


Explanation:
says the official Duden

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Note added at 12 mins (2004-08-11 12:14:50 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Duden:
Schmöcker - ein anspruchsloses aber fesselnden Buch
schmökern - für (viel) lesen z.B. ich schmöckere


    Duden - die (neue) deutsche Rechtschreibung, 22. Auflage
swisstell
Italy
Local time: 02:25
Works in field
Native speaker of: German
PRO pts in category: 20

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Annika Neudecker: SwissTell, can you write it with a "ck" now? I only know it with a "k"...// Nein, natürlich tut das deiner Antwort keinen Abbruch. So war's auch nicht gemeint :-) Ich hab Schmöker im Internet in der Zwischenzeit auch mit "ck" gefunden....
8 mins
  -> war natürlich ein Typo, ist Schmöker, aber tut meiner Antwort überhaupt keinen Abbruch
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27 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5
Schmöker
long novel, big (entertaining) book


Explanation:
you would never refer to a short, thin book as a Schmoeker.

astauber
United States
Local time: 19:25
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
5
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Schmöker
A ripping yarn/a page turner


Explanation:
AKA a good read, unputdownable (if there is such a word).

HTH
Sara.

Sara Noss
United Kingdom
Local time: 01:25
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  NGK: "page turner" was my first impulse as well
34 mins
  -> Thank you, Norbert. :-)
agree  langnet: "page turner"
59 mins
  -> Danke. :-)
agree  Heidi Stone-Schaller: page turner
1 hr
  -> Cheers, Heidrun.
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