Leave it to the Germans, with their delicate Teutonic command of subtle concepts of hate, revenge, and laughing at someone while exacting hate-filled revenge upon them, to come up with a word like Neidbau, which means "a building (often of little or no value to the proprietor) constructed with the sole purpose of harassing or inconveniencing his neighbor in some way."
More of these awesome words which deserve to be in our daily parlance may be found at 9 Foreign Words the English Language Desperately Needs. (Warning: Leads to Cracked.com. This blog is not responsible for loss of work, or time spent browsing the site.)
We may not have the particular word over here ('spite house' is close though), but we definitely have the habit. Who but the English could lodge "malicious, vexatious and incomplete proposals" for village greens?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.planningresource.co.uk/go/development_control/article/1109789/lga-calls-action-vexatious-village-green-applications/
Oh lord. I just followed that link and found...Soylent Veal. So wrong...
ReplyDelete"Neidbau" is technical terminology from the 17th century. Not really a "german word". ;)
ReplyDelete"a building (often of little or no value to the proprietor)
ReplyDeleteconstructed with the sole purpose of harassing or inconveniencing his
neighbor in some way."
Hmm...sounds like a good description of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, or the Brady Group.
"Neidbau Legislation". I like it! :D
ReplyDeleteThe BATF comes to mind, also.
ReplyDelete