this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2023
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In German it's Mäusespeck = Mouse Bacon

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[–] Mane25@feddit.uk 116 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In English we call it "Marshmallow".

[–] Jay@sh.itjust.works 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What a mysterious and beautiful language.

[–] burningmatches@feddit.uk 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I mean, “marshmallow” has a more interesting derivation than most of the other words I’ve seen so far.

Althaea officinalis, the marsh mallow or marshmallow, is a species of flowering plant indigenous to Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, which is used in herbalism and as an ornamental plant. A confection made from the root since ancient Egyptian times evolved into today's marshmallow treat.

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[–] w00@feddit.de 10 points 1 year ago
[–] Amatsumara@lemm.ee 80 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Icelandic it’s sykurpúði = sugar cushion 😄

[–] keegomatic@kbin.social 13 points 1 year ago

This one I can really get behind

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[–] ghashul@feddit.dk 56 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Danish it's skumfidus which means foam thingie.

[–] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 16 points 1 year ago

Literally “foam thingie”? I love that!

[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (5 children)

I'm German and that is bullshit. Never heard of mäusespeck, everyone just calls them marshmallows and they are labeled as marshmallows in the store

[–] viking@infosec.pub 49 points 1 year ago

It was absolutely called Mäusespeck when I was a kid, but that's 35+ years ago.

[–] Freitag@feddit.de 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Where do you live? Mäusespeck is even in the wikipedia article:

Im deutschsprachigen Raum ist die Süßware häufig unter der Produktbezeichnung Mausespeck oder Mäusespeck erhältlich.

[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 14 points 1 year ago (5 children)

I lived in BaWü and Hessen for over 30 years. Never heard of it.

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[–] theFibonacciEffect@feddit.de 19 points 1 year ago

Classic Germans discussing about their own language

[–] GigglyBobble@kbin.social 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm German too and we totally used Mäusespeck in the 80s/90s. I guess you're just younger, today people know what marshmallows are (and speak better English in general).

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[–] Carighan@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Mäusespeck exists, but it's something slightly different. It's the sugared rhombus of the fluffy stuff, and packed in those triangle clear bags.

[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 13 points 1 year ago

Reading about it, it seems they are in fact all the same. Even the white haribo mice. TIL.

[–] brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz 40 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Finnish it's 'vaahtokarkki' which translates to foamcandy.

[–] stiephel@feddit.de 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What do you call cotton candy?

[–] PepperTwist@sopuli.xyz 8 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Hattara. Just a made-up word.

[–] jballs@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All words are made-up words.

[–] PepperTwist@sopuli.xyz 6 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Hattara is even more mader-upper!

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[–] RandomStickman@kbin.social 36 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (7 children)

We call it 棉花糖 in Chinese, which translates to cotton candy... Which gets confusing if we're also talking about cotton candy (the fluffy kind).

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[–] Lewistrick@feddit.nl 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

In Dutch it's also marshmallows, but also commonly spek (bacon), spekjes (bacon pieces) or spekkies (in this case it's clear you're not talking about bacon).

[–] Mane25@feddit.uk 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Now you have me curious since this is the second language, why bacon?

[–] sizzling@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago

The original candy looked like this: https://cdn.webshopapp.com/shops/282420/files/297921342/890x820x1/confiserie-a-lancienne-spekjes-roze-wit-doos-2-kg.jpg

Which with some imagination can be similar to bits of bacon. Marshmallows are somewhat similar candy so the name is used for that too at times.

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[–] berkeleyblue@lemmy.world 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’m pretty sure alot of languages just imported marshmallow.

I come from the german speaking part of Switzerland and I don’t think I ever heard someone actually use the word “Mäusespeck” although it certainly would he understood I think. Everybody around me calls them marshmallows.

[–] Zenchyi@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I live in NRW and have never heard anyone call them Mäusespeck either

[–] Philipp@lemmy.loomy.li 8 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I guess you are born in this century. In the 80 it was what was written on the products in the supermarket.

[–] qtj@feddit.de 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

For me "Mäusespeck" are smaller marshmallows that usually come in white and pink and in different shapes. Sometimes the shape of a mouse. Marshmallows are the larger white and cylindrical or cube ones that you put on a stick to roast on a campfire before eating.

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[–] grannyweatherwax@feddit.nl 15 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

Never heard of that in German. It's just marshmallows with a generic German accent instead. But it's cool to learn something new. Which region says that, OP?

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[–] Treczoks@lemm.ee 15 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Schaumzucker (German), literally "foam sugar"

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Skumfidus 🇩🇰

"Foam trick" i guess, is the literal translation.

Fidus is a weird word.

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[–] ZeekMacard@feddit.cl 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Here in Mexico (Spanish) is known as Bombón. A quick Google search says that apparently comes from the repetition of the french word 'bon'

It is worth to mention that, despite most of the countries in Latin America speak Spanish, things have different names in different countries, even if it's the same language.

According to Wikipedia, marshmallows are also known as

nube,​ esponjita, malvavisco, fringuel, jamón o suncho

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[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 12 points 1 year ago (6 children)

We didn't bother translating, so it's marshmallow. Sometimes written phonetically, maršmelou.

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[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago (4 children)
[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ou mâche-mâlo en bon Québécois.

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[–] maniel@lemmy.ml 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

In Polish we call them pianka, diminutive for foam

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Nein, davon weiß ich absolut nichts. Das ist regional allerhöchstens oder ein Synonym für Marshmallow.

[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Google translate "No, I know absolutely nothing about that. That's regional at most or a synonym for marshmallow."

You should name it sugar pillow or better we should all name it sugar pillow in our language.

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[–] Squids@sopuli.xyz 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

In Norwegian marshmallow is just marshmallow, but if something has marshmallow bits or marshmallow like properties (like say the white stuff in a bag of Haribos) it's called "skum", which means foam

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[–] mikwee@lemmyverse.org 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
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[–] gnzl@nc.gnzl.cl 8 points 1 year ago

Malvavisco in Spanish as others mentioned, but in Chile we also call some varieties "guagüitas" (little babies) for some reason

[–] angelsomething@lemmy.one 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Guimauve or Purple mistletoe for whatever reason.

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[–] sundaylab@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

My native language is German but I lived in Spain for a long time and there they call them "nubes", clouds.

[–] vis4valentine@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)
[–] roguetrick@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Cognate with "Mallow hibiscus". It's all the swamp flower in the end. The marshmallow plant sap was originally used to make them.

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[–] jaanus20@lemm.ee 7 points 1 year ago

Vahukomm in estonian

Foam candy

[–] severien@lemmy.world 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

žužu in Czech (ž as the first sound in Zhukov), but it's often called marshmallow as well (especially the iconic/most common form).

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