Earthquake Words/Erdbeben Wörter

I’ve been starting to think about Halloween and in crafting a note to share my excitement with a friend I managed to write eine Halloween Partei rather than eine Halloween Party. This didn’t strike me until hours after i’d sent the, likely because we have just the one word in English for both the political “party” and the celebratory “party” – in fact on election night you might attend a Republican or Democratic Party party.

In looking up the word die Party on dict.cc, I was reminded of the variety of options in German – die Feier, das Fest, die Einladung and die Gesellschaft are pretty standard – but what struck me was how, like in English, there are names for many specific types of celebrations.

“Bachelor party” – die Junggesellenabschiedsfeier
“Beach party” – das Strandfest
“Birthday party” – das Geburtstagfest, die Geburtstagfeier, die Geburtstagparty
“Block party” – das Stadteilfest, das Straßenfest
“Coffee party” or “Hen party” – das Kaffeekränzchen
“Dinner party” – das Diner (another chance for me to get confused given this is a type of restaurant in English)
“Going away party” – die Abschiedsfeier/fest/party
“Funeral party/meal” – der Leichenschmaus, die Trauergesellschaft
“Housewarming party” – die Einweihungsparty, das Einzugsfest
“Office party” – das Betriebsfest, die Bürofete, die Büroparty
“Party animal” – der Partylöwe (male), die Partymaus (female)

And particularly important where Halloween is concerned, das Kostümfest. Without one on, you could be considered der Partymuffel or die Spaßbremse!