Kartoffeln

in Germany used to be a Sättigungsbeilage (staple food), while potatoes in other civilized countries are a vegetable.

©Stephen Colbert

Recently on his Late Show, Stephen Colbert made jokes about the Russian way of life, always ending with the words "is potato" as a running gag.

©Stephen Colbert

Even Lenin was quoted ...

©Stephen Colbert

... and the audience went along enthusiastically with people presenting their t-shirts.

Stephen is mistaken for the word for potato in Russian is картофель, a German loanword. Kartoffel derives from tartufolo, the Italian word for truffle, which in turn is derived from the Latin terrae tuber (earth tuber).

On the other hand, the word "potato" comes from the Haitian word "batata," which is their name for a sweet potato. This later came to Spanish as "patata" and eventually into English as "potato." Well, let's not Quayle on, adding a little to the end there.

Germans love their Kartoffeln such that we eat 57 kg per capita and year. Other names for the tubers are common: Grumbeeren (ground berries), Erdäpfel (cf. French pommes de terre), Tüffel (verbalization of truffles), and Bodabirras (ground peers).

Both Kartoffel and potato are used in pejorative ways (cf. couch potato). The Brothers Grimm already wrote in their German Dictionary, “die frucht, neben dem getraide jetzt heimisch wie keine andere, dient sprachlich zu mancherlei scherz" wie kartoffelgesicht oder kartoffelnase ("The fruit, besides the grain now native as no other, serves linguistically to many a joke" such as potato face or potato nose).

These days Germans are regarded as Kartoffeln* possibly because of our numerous Turkish fellow citizens. "Alman" is the Turkish word for German and potato.
*When you think that krauts is the correct designation for Germans, you are wrong, for the home of the real and best sauerkraut is the French Alsace serving la Choucroute Royale.

Thinking of the French named frogs, the Italians called spaghetti, and the Turks referred to as Kümmeltürke (caraway Turk), aren't we Germans not spoiled with Kartoffel as a swear word?

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