German expressions to get you 'running'

The friendly "Na, wie läuft's?" literally means, "How's it running?" but of course in English we say, "How's it going?" Everyone likes to hear it, because it shows that you care how they are doing. There's another variant in German: "Wie geht's?" — often one of the first expressions German-learners adopt. It means "How are you doing?"

The German "noch in den Kinderschuhen stecken" says it all: Still in one's baby shoes. What it means is that things are still in the early stages, just beginning to develop or to unfold. In other words, the ball has just started rolling.

It's a milestone in a young child's life: Learning to walk, to take those first steps. It's also tricky in German: "Laufen" can mean both walking and running. Then there's the progression: "Man muss erstmal laufen lernen, bevor man rennt." English has the same: "You have to learn to walk before you can run." The German "rennen" definitely means "to run."

Once things really start rolling in life, most of us eventually feel like "mir läuft die Zeit davon!": Time is running away from me. Then, a lot of us try to slow down from moving too fast, making the moment last — as it goes in that song by Simon & Garfunkel, "Feelin' Groovy."

Surely many of us have felt like this during the COVID pandemic: I want to run away from it all. "Ich will davonlaufen" in German means to escape. When it's impossible to flee a difficult situation, one way of coping, of course, is to find peace in our minds.

The expression is the same in German and English: "Wie auf rohen Eiern laufen" — walking on eggshells. In whatever language, no one really likes that feeling of having to tip-toe around someone; it puts us on edge.

Equally unpleasant is the feeling: "Mir läuft es kalt den Rücken runter," which means something is sending chills down my spine. But some people might like it when this happens while watching a horror movie. It gives you the shivers yet keeps you on the edge of your seat; you can't help but still want to watch. Either way, kinda scary!

Much nicer is the delicious sensation: "Mir läuft das Wasser im Mund zusammen," it's making my mouth water. Who doesn't love that feeling?

Literally meaning, "Lies have short legs," it evokes the idea of walking or running. It's a maxim one should take to heart. It means that you won't get very far by lying. You won't get ahead with it, and it's certainly nothing for the long run, as someone will eventually see through you.

This is one of the most unpleasant things in life, at least, on the emotional front. "Jemandem den Laufpass geben" sounds, literally translated, rather formal and resembles military jargon: to give something a "running passport" or "certificate of discharge." The real meaning is harsher: to ditch or dump someone, to write someone a letter ending a relationship, to tell someone to get lost.

Getting a "we're through" letter, however, isn't a reason to "Amok laufen." Literally, it means "to run amok," which in English means things going off course, getting out of hand, behaving in a wild manner. But in German, it implies something more dangerous: someone blindly shooting or killing a group of people. It is often presumed that the person doing such a thing is deranged.

During the COVID pandemic, crowded areas were to be avoided. The German expression "etwas ist überlaufen" means something is overcrowded, overrun, brimming or spilling over. In other words, the complete opposite of this lonely square in Dresden, where a jogger sought space in the wee hours in October 2020.

In times of crises, it often feels like everything has gone off-kilter and gotten completely out of hand. That's what "aus dem Ruder laufen" means: to lose control of the rudder you need to guide your course. But hang tight! Things will usually right themselves eventually.

Daily conferences, digital meetings: How can one not feel overwhelmed? It's all too much sometimes. A good way to get through it: making lists and figuring out how things will go, getting the rundown. The German expression is, "Wie ist der Ablauf?": How will things run or go, what's the procedure?

One can take comfort in the calming German maxim "die Dinge laufen lassen." It means to let things run their course, and everything will be alright in the end. It's a nearly stubbornly optimistic take on things, very Zen, and expresses the idea that we cannot always control our fate and that we sometimes just have to let things go.