IDIOMS for GERMAN learners | Milchmädchenrechnung

Or I have the perfect business plan I swear to you I’ll be a millionaire before I turn thirty Then I can just retire And what's your plan this time I'll explain my plan to you Buy 1 000 lottery tickets every single day The chances of winning increase dramatically I'll eventually have to win the millions and then I can just retire Then I can sit back and relax I think that's a naive calculation Hello and welcome to another video from me Today we're talking about the German term Milchmädchenrechnung Milk Girl Calculation What does that mean and what story lies behind it Let's explore that together today You might have already gotten a rough idea of what it means from the example at the beginning It's a calculation that doesn't add up In the end you'll definitely end up losing money and likely earn far less than you'd hoped Your plan was somehow doomed to fail from the very beginning because the calculation was simply a bit too naive Perhaps you've overlooked a few key factors in your calculation Explain to me again why you think my business plan won't work Well the tickets you want to buy every day do cost money after all A single ticket might cost about 1.20 euros and you want to buy a thousand every day Oh The term milkmaid's calculation can also be used in situations for example when engaging in a discussion When a person presents arguments that may sound plausible at first glance yet still fail to account for crucial aspects That could also be a pipe dream The argument sounds convincing and logical but it likely wouldn't work in practice But what did the poor milkmaids ever do to the people in Germany at they're accused of being unable to handle numbers and failing to think through complex issues The most clear and widely recognized reference to the modern term "Milchmädchenrechnung" One would likely find this in a fable by Jean de La Fontaine from 1678 The French title is And the German equivalent would be "the milkmaid and the milk pail " It's about a woman named Perrette a milkmaid who sells milk One day Perrette sets off for the city to sell her milk And she carries the milk in a large jug balanced on her head And as she walked along cheerfully she was already thinking about How much money she might get for this milk and all the things she could buy with it For instance she thinks she could just buy 100 eggs The chicks that hatch from these eggs will surely bring in a good profit when sold With the money she would earn from selling the chicks she could buy a pig That pig could then be fattened And with the money she'd likely get for this fattened pig she might even be able to buy herself a cow But as she dreamed about what she could do with all that lovely money The jug slipped from her head and she spilled all the milk In the end Perrette's only wish was simply at her husband wouldn't beat her at home over the damage that had occurred Lafontaine has neatly wrapped his critique of unrestrained wishful thinking in the story of the young woman and shown that any chance can burst the soap bubbles leaving the dreamer once again as nothingness just as at the beginning of his daydream Extremely life-affirming and inspiring Thank you Have you ever made a milkmaid's calculation yourself I'll tell you straight up YouTube was the biggest pipe dream of all time at the beginning But it also brings me great joy especially when I read your kind comments They really often put a smile on my face or sometimes even a I also gladly continue engaging with my videos if they bring you joy or value And if you'd like to see us again next time don't forget to subscribe to this channel Bye