Lost her marbles

When I was in high school German, our teacher (Lehrerin) often assigned us skits.

When we reached the unit on medical terms, Mike was a neurologist (ein Neurologe), I was his receptionist-nurse (Arzthelferin- Krankenschwester) and Jackie was our patient (Patientin). When Jackie entered our office, we diagnosed a brain tumor (Gehirntumor) and told her she needed an immediate operation (einer unverzüglich Operation).

She lay down on the operating table (Operationtisch) and we cut an incision (Inzision) in her head. Of course, all this activity was discreetly hidden behind a stage curtain (Theatervorhang).

Then Mike tipped over a box of white marbles. As the marbles poured all over the floor, I exclaimed, “Ach, nein! Sie hatte ihre Marbeln verloren!” (Oh, no! She has lost her marbles!)

The class and teacher howled with laughter and we got an A+.

However, maybe we shouldn’t have gotten graded quite so highly. According to my favorite German-English language dictionary (Wörterbuch), the idiomatic translation would be Sie nicht (mehr) alle Tassen im Schrank haben or “She has no (more) cups in the cupboard!”

Oh, well. I’ll never complain about a perfect grade! Danke, Frau Kreiger!

Photo is borrowed from AntiqueTrader.com.