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Not a German but Duden disagrees with you [0]: "etwas in der Absicht, es zu verbessern, schlechter machen". [0]: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/verschlim
by Youden 19d ago
Not a German but Duden disagrees with you [0]: "etwas in der Absicht, es zu verbessern, schlechter machen".
[0]: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/verschlimmbessern https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/verschlimmbessern
- b3orn 19d agoGerman here, this is the right definition, trying to improve something but ending up making it worse.
- jjtheblunt 19d agothat's not disagreeing at all (american partial german, partial pole)
- gpvos 19d agoIt is a different meaning from that in the parent comment by OroPla.
- spacechild1 19d agoYes, that's the correct definition.
- quink 18d agoI still agree with parent’s definition more because it also covers the ironic, sarcastic case, as well as the inherent ambiguity of the word ‘besser’. Plainly put, ‘better’ for who? If you just say it as a logical series of making it worse while making it better you miss that the intention of the ‘better’ is the first place wasn’t even the intention to make it better for the user.
- 1718627440 18d agoBut you rarely only worsen it in every direction.