"Das Mittagessen ist weder Fisch noch Fleisch."
Translation:The lunch is neither fish nor meat.
64 CommentsThis discussion is locked.
One of the correct translations listed is "... fish nor fowl". Can "fleisch" really mean "fowl" instead of the more broad "meat"?
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"Fleisch" cannot mean "fowl" on its own but "weder Fisch noch Fleisch" is an idiom in the same sense as "neither fish nor fowl", so here it's probably a bit confusing that is is used with something that's actually edible.
- 2068
This was very confusing since duo normally gives me errors when I try translations that are more idiomatic than literally identical.
"Fowl" in this sense refers to birds/poultry, so yes; they're both edible. lol.
In a religous fasting period you are not allowed to eat meat, but you may eat fish. Hundreds of years ago, monks declared a beaver as a fish, so they could eat it.
Actually, in most regions fish is considered separate from meat for culinary purposes. It has a lot to do with both textures and flavors and what works best with what. There are also types of vegetarians that find fish acceptable. (Vegetarians, not vegans.)
- 2068
In Sweden, fish is typically considered meat. A menu would have entries for "meat" (meaning beef and pork), "fowl" (or more probably "chicken") and "fish" but someone claiming to be vegetarian and still eat fish would be considered a bit weird (in the sense that that's not how the word is normally used).
Also, you can find people with exactly any combination of eating restrictions to that's difficult to base word distinctions on. (Personally, I'm apescetarian.)
My sixth-grade teacher was a pescatarian, and she always used to say, "There's a reason pescatarians aren't vegetarians."
Is there a similar expression in your language? In Polish we say "ni pies, ni wydra" [neither dog nor otter]
Croatian 'Ni riba ni meso' in Nominative (Neither fish nor meat)...i figured,as long as we're making a list
Many, many, many people would disagree. You'd never find fish in the meat section of a menu, for example (or at least almost never). Instead, it gets its own section. Still, many people do consider fish to be meat, all the same. This is a rather divided topic, really. =P Personally, I wouldn't class fish as meat.
Help a non native English speaker, please. What does "neither fish nor fowl" means?
- 443
"Neither Fish nor Fowl" is not used to describe food. It means it is something unusual and not known to the observer. An enigma.
And to be grammatically correct, it is neither nor, not neither or! As it was in the example
I said "neither fish nor flesh" and it was marked wrong. I think the idiom is "neither fish nor fowl", but I think I have also heard it as "neither fish nor flesh."
I agree. The English idiom is also "neither fish nor flesh" from Old English flǣsc meaning meat
I think the issue may be your use of the word "flesh" rather than "meat". Duo seems to prefer the latter.
I can't imagine that "neither fish nor flesh" would refer to anything other than meat. It is old-timey sounding, but in a fun way, at least for this native English speaker.
Ah! I completely forgot that "flesh" also refers to fruits, mushrooms, etc. Thanks!
These 57 comments made my day!! The bottomline is that this is an idiom because Fleisch means meat or flesh. I couldn't find anywhere that it means "fowl".
- 1817
I think Duo is trying to introduce us to an idiom here which exists both in German ('weder Fisch noch Fleisch') and in English ('neither fish nor fowl'). However, by relating it to a meal to begin with, it's made it a bit confusing. The idiom may have its origins in food and religion, as is discussed in great detail in the comments above, but its true meaning is '(the subject) is not easily categorized'; 'it is neither one thing nor another'; 'it falls easily into no category.'
I'm a native English speaker who once upon a time spoke German fairly well (meaning I knew the German idiom as well as the English), and yet I missed seeing the idiom in both languages. Because the subject is Mittagessen, I translated it as "the lunch is neither fish nor meat," which is a literal translation (and which was accepted by Duo.) I think the introduction of this idiom might have been more successful if it had been given in its simplest form of "Es ist weder Fisch noch Fleisch."
So no, 'Fleisch' does not mean "fowl." :-) They're just two parallel idioms which did not come down into modern speech exactly the same way.
"The lunch is neither fish nor fowl." is incorrect? Even though that is an idiom?
That wasn't the question. The question was what just "neither" by itself is. Like in the following:
Person A: "Is this a mouse or a rat?"
Person B: "Neither."
I'm curious to know the answer to this as well.
In your example (mouse or rat?) in response I'd say "keine" to mean "neither." You could say "keiner von ihnen" (neither of them) but that is just extra words.
Actually, come to think of it, I think I have heard it as "neither flesh nor fowl" which wouldn't fit this at all.
I said for the last part "neither fish nor meat" If they wanted fowl, why not use Vogel? Up until just now Fleisch meant meat.
From what I've gathered, it's just idiomatic weirdness. Fleisch in general does mean flesh or meat, not specifically from a type of animal.
I have being translating the word ""wieder" as neither and have been correct so far.
lunch oder luncheon - They are interchangable, alto adults share luncheon... kids have lunch, a picnic is lunch
Weird , fowl is a kind of meat, certainly is not a fruit or vegetable , so i read it as fish nor meat..
Weder Fisch noch Fleisch ist eigentlich immer in übertragenem Sinne gemeint - also geht es nicht wirklich um essbare oder schmackhafte Tiere! Es geht um jemanden oder etwas, der/die/das in keine gängige Kategorie passt! Also "zwischen 2 Stühlen sitzt" oder so! Jemand, der sich weder der einen noch der anderen Gruppe zugeörig fühlt, ist weder Fisch noch Fleisch! - zB wer sich als "divers" empfindet, ist weder mannlich noch weiblich.
- 107
Just for a change, I used luncheon instead of lunch and it was rejected. I flagged that because so far as I know both are translated into German as Mittagessen
Does "noch" always translate to "nor"? In modern English, "nor" is usually substituted for "or" (I don't want fish (n)or bread).
How does this work in German? Must we always use "noch" in the negative, even when we could use "or" in English? Many thanks in advance!
That's interesting. I used "beef" for Fleisch, which was obviously wrong. You learn something new everyday! :)
