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Your say - Lost for words 3l126w

Shooting sheep 6t401c

Having worked many years in I told one of my German colleagues that I'd recently visited home and my son had told me he wanted to be ein Schafschütze when he grew up. My colleague then asked me with a puzzled look, why my son wanted to kill sheep? What I'd meant to say was that he wanted to be a 'sniper', ein Scharfschütze!

Sent by: Martin

Comments 682840

Kirsten 2008-08-14

Where I am in people don't really pronounce the r, so they would pronounce Schafschütze and Scharfschütze the same. I'm surprised that the German didn't understand that.

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Susan 2006-11-01

Saksith, according to your explanations, Scharfschütze means 'precise shooter'.

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Saksith 2006-06-13

The German word scharf has several meanings. It either means 'spicy/hot' (das Essen ist zu scharf, the meal is too spicy/hot), 'sharp' (like a blade or knife) or 'precise' (like a shoot or a goal). So der Scharfschütze literally means 'sharp shooter'.

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