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 162 points 2 years ago (3 children)

In English we call it "Marshmallow".

[–] Jtee@lemmy.world 60 points 2 years ago (2 children)

We call it the same in Canada! That's crazy!

[–] Polydextrous@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] Jay@sh.itjust.works 51 points 2 years ago (1 children)

What a mysterious and beautiful language.

[–] burningmatches@feddit.uk 17 points 2 years 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 18 points 2 years ago
[–] Amatsumara@lemm.ee 107 points 2 years ago (2 children)

In Icelandic it’s sykurpúði = sugar cushion 😄

[–] keegomatic@kbin.social 17 points 2 years ago

This one I can really get behind

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[–] ghashul@feddit.dk 76 points 2 years ago (1 children)

In Danish it's skumfidus which means foam thingie.

[–] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 23 points 2 years ago (5 children)

Literally “foam thingie”? I love that!

[–] procrastinator@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (7 children)

Am danish can confirm, it translates to "foam thingy". Never actually thought about it before lol, though a fun name indeed

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[–] Jean_le_Flambeur@discuss.tchncs.de 54 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 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

EDIT: I was made aware that the Problem seems be that im not a boomer. 30 years ago, when i wasnt alive, they seemed to be called this. In my WG there are people over 30 though and they also never heard of this (hessen)

[–] viking@infosec.pub 64 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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

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[–] Freitag@feddit.de 39 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 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 15 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

[–] VanillaGorilla@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

BaWü here, definitely a thing. Not too common though.

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[–] theFibonacciEffect@feddit.de 31 points 2 years ago

Classic Germans discussing about their own language

[–] GigglyBobble@kbin.social 31 points 2 years 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 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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 15 points 2 years ago

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

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[–] brewbellyblueberry@sopuli.xyz 50 points 2 years ago (9 children)

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

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[–] RandomStickman@kbin.social 42 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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 25 points 2 years ago (6 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 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

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

[–] sizzling@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

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 23 points 2 years 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 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

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

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[–] Cabeza2000@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago (5 children)
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[–] maniel@lemmy.ml 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

In Polish we call them pianka, diminutive for foam

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 points 2 years ago (5 children)

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

[–] Vex_Detrause@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 years ago (4 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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[–] Treczoks@lemm.ee 15 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Schaumzucker (German), literally "foam sugar"

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[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Skumfidus 🇩🇰

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

Fidus is a weird word.

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[–] wildbus8979@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 years ago (4 children)
[–] mp3@lemmy.ca 9 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Ou mâche-mâlo en bon Québécois.

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[–] rikudou@lemmings.world 14 points 2 years ago (8 children)

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

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[–] grannyweatherwax 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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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[–] ZeekMacard@feddit.cl 13 points 2 years 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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[–] Squids@sopuli.xyz 12 points 2 years 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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[–] angelsomething@lemmy.one 11 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Guimauve or Purple mistletoe for whatever reason.

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[–] vis4valentine@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 years ago (4 children)
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[–] severien@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years 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).

[–] sundaylab@lemmy.ml 10 points 2 years ago

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

[–] mikwee@lemmyverse.org 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] gnzl@nc.gnzl.cl 8 points 2 years ago

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

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