Mut zum Hut haben Doria und Chantal.
What’s the meaning of Mut zum Hut here?
I found that Mut means courage; Hut means hat.
-
1The m of zuM is not optional, it stands for an abbbreviated article dem, and that article is required at least in this abbreviated form.– guidot ♦Nov 16, 2018 at 15:32
Add a comment
|
3 Answers
It just means that Doria and Chantal are wearing a hat (probably in contrast to other, not named persons).
The literal translation would be
It is Doria and Chantal who are brave enough to wear a hat.
The phrase Mut zu does not have the strong meaning as bravery has in english and Mut has in german in general. This is because the phrase Mut zu is a conventional expression. (In this case, Mut zum Hut is a fixed phrase which is also used for advertising hats.) Anyway it could be suggesting that Doria and Chantal are somehow exposing themselves here, maybe they are wearing hats which are particularly eye-catching.
Besides that, Mut zu occurs also in the colloquial phrase Mut zur Lücke (bravery to leave a gap) (in situations when learning for a test, leave out some of the topics).
answered Nov 16, 2018 at 12:42
-
6It bears emphasising that the phrase is deliberately silly, using rime and rhythm to comic effect.– henningNov 16, 2018 at 14:28
-
1@henning Well, "silly" is clearly a judgmental statement, and imho pretty subjective. I try to generally avoid this kind of judgments as much as possible and stick to a descriptive style as much as I can. I also do not consent, that the phrase is deliberately silly. How are we supposed to know this without at least more context? Nov 16, 2018 at 15:25
-
True, I made a judgement here, but I also stated reasons to support it. Of course, I may have misunderstood, and the style used here was comical by accident, and perhaps only I found it funny. That's a general predicament when dealing with language. Anyway, your answer is absolutely fine.– henningNov 16, 2018 at 16:18
-
"Hut", btw, can have the same secondary meaning of "responsibility for something" as "hat" :) Nov 16, 2018 at 19:14
It's a variation of the german (Snowclone) (- provided by shg in comments below) "Mut zur Lücke", which comes close to "Courage towards the gap" / "Courage to be in the gap" (not sure if this translation is understandable/correct for english natives)
Simply put it means that you're being/feeling courageous in doing something others wouldn't, e.g. "Mut zum Hut" means you're courageous enough to 'dare' wearing a hat whilst "Mut zur Lücke" is more generalized - e.g. it could be not learning a part of what possibly comes up in the next exams or not doing what everybody else would in any given situation.
"Did you practice multiplication?" "No, I only practiced division - Mut zur Lücke"
This example is IMO mediocre but it could still help clarifying.
I hope this answers your question to your desired extent - if not, just let me know.
Edit: Another example just crossed my mind. It is also used for someone who has a visible teeth gap to make fun of him.
-
1
-
-
1
-
1
"Mut zum Hut" ist einfach eine Ermunterung mal etwas Neues auszuprobieren, nämlich einen Hut. Es ist keine feste Redewendung und Mut steht einfach für Mut und Hut für Hut.
Dass sich beides aufeinander reimt, ist festzuhalten und ich stimme Hennings Kommentar auch darin zu, dass der Reim einen komischen Effekt hat.
Die Hinweise auf "Mut zur Lücke" können als unbeachtlich verworfen werden, da von einer Lücke nicht die Rede ist und sich auch keine Beziehung aufdrängt, jedenfalls keine engere als etwa bei "Mut zum Risiko" oder "Mut zur Entscheidung".
answered Nov 17, 2018 at 0:21
