Having been away for a few days I only just got the chance to read the Christmas edition of the German magazine Stern when the above advert caught my eye. It was advertising the Christmas Day film ‘Der gestiefelte Kater’ (Puss in Boots) with the sentence ‘Haben Sie Weihnachten auch ‘nen (that’s short for ‘einen’) Kater?
Great sentence – Are you also having a tomcat this Christmas?
Or could it mean something else?
‘Einen Kater haben’ also means ‘to have a hangover’ – probably very appropriate during the festive season 😉
If you read the sentence ‘Ich habe einen Kater.’ on its own, you wouldn’t know what the person is talking about. Listening, however, will tell you. The tone and facial expression will tell you exactly, whether it’s a tomcat or too much alcohol the night before .
So my question today is: “Hatten Sie am 1. Januar einen Kater?”
How would you answer? Did you have a hangover on the 1st of January or are you the proud owner of a tomcat?
Do tell! I promise I won’t pass it on 😆
My tomcat has a hangover. How do we handle this in German? 😉
Easy: Mein Kater hat einen Kater 🙂
No tomcat, no hangover. Reminds me we have bottles of cherry brandy and apricot brandy from Lidl!
Hope you’ll enjoy them both … without a ‘Kater’ 🙂