Random German Word of the Day: Ammenmärchen (n.) – this German word means “old wives’ tale” or “urban legend”.

The word Amme originally referred to any breastfeeding woman, and today means “wet nurse”. The word Märchen means “fairy tale”.

The term stems from the habit of 18th-century wet nurses of scaring the children they were taking care of to bed with creepy stories.

Extra Fact

Interestingly, the German word Hebamme (“midwife”) is not at all related: It comes from heben (“to lift”) and Ahnin (“female ancestor”) – referring to the child’s grandmother.

Oh, and one more thing: There's a modern urban legend that's as popular in Germany as it is odd. Namely, that the city of Bielefeld does not exist. Who knows if there's some truth to it - so far we've yet to meet anyone who's been there.