This bit of Berliner slang is an acronym from before the internet and a cry for help from the middle of nowhere, all rolled into one.
What does it mean?
JWD, pronounced “Yot vee dey”, stands for janz weit draussen which means “way out in the middle of nowhere”.
If you’re an urban type, it’s the sort of thing you might say with a shudder at the prospect of spending a weekend “in the boonies” or “the back of beyond”.
If you’re a rural type, it’s an expression which perfectly captures everything that’s wrong with urban types.
Janz isn’t actually a word, of course, but a nod to the Berliner dialect which often swaps a “G” at the beginning of a word for a “J”. In correct German it would be ganz weit draussen.
Similarly, S’s are often pronounced as T’s in Berlin. So “was” becomes “wat“, and “das” becomes “dit“.
Why do I need to know janz weit draussen?
If you’re in Berlin, it never hurts to make nice with the locals. Dropping the expression JWD into conversation not only lets them know you’re making an effort to learn German – it lets them know you’re making an effort to learn their German.
READ ALSO: The ultimate guide to looking and sounding like a local in Berlin
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If you’re anywhere else in Germany, you can use it ironically to inspire a moment of bonding over the strange eccentricities of folk in the capital.
Alternatively, you can use the expression Am Arsch der Welt, which translates as “the arse-end of the world” and is the term used in Germany by everyone who isn’t from Berlin.
Here’s how to use it
As an acronym:
Ich möchte nicht so JWD wohnen, ich brauche eine gute Anbindung an die Stadt.
I don’t want to live in the middle of nowhere. I need a good connection to the city.
JWD ist für mich alles außerhalb des S-Bahn-Rings.
For me, anything outside the S-Bahn ring is the middle of nowhere.
As a phrase:
Ob Sie sich im Stadtzentrum oder “janz weit draußen” befinden, Sie können Ihre Testergebnisse bekommon, sobald Sie dafür bereit sind.
Whether you’re in the city centre or in the middle of nowhere, you can get your test results as soon as they’re ready.
Everywhere except Berlin:
Denn der Flughafen liegt nicht, wie man meinen möchte, in der Nähe von Frankfurt, sondern 120 Kilometer entfernt am Arsch der Welt.
Because the airport isn’t near Frankfurt where you’d expect, but 120 kilometres away in the middle of nowhere.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
