German Language Stack Exchange is a bilingual question and answer site for speakers of all levels who want to share and increase their knowledge of the German language. It's 100% free, no registration required.
Sign up to join this community
I came across the following sentence in Der Spiegel:
Fotografen sind abhängig vom Auftraggeber, vom Kunden, von der Konkurrenz und immer wieder auch vom Objekt: denn was macht ein Fotograf, wenn der Abzulichtende stockbeinig in die Kamera grinst und einfach keinen locker-lässigen Kate-Moss-Look hinbekommt?
What does 'stockbeinig' mean?
A literal translation would be "stick-legged. It's a describing word combination, meaning the photographer's subject is standing stiff and errect instead of in a relaxed, "cool" pose.
A probably more common term would be steifbeinig.
