In German, the electronic dashboard display on a car has a picturesque name. It’s Mäusekino, literally, “mouse cinema.” The Hungarian term for “mouse cinema,” egérmozi, is often applied to various kinds of small electronic displays, such as the screen on a mobile phone. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Mouse Cinema is a Stuart Little-Sized Display”
You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.
I’m Grant Barrett.
And I’m Martha Barnette.
I was charmed this week to learn that there is a German word for the electronic dashboard display on your car. You know, all those little flashing lights and different colors. It’s Moisequino. And Moisequino translates as mouse cinema. So you can just imagine the little furry guy sitting up there watching the show.
Yeah. You know, like a laser light show. There goes the speedometer. Mouth cinema. That’s really good.
How do you spell that? Moise Kino. M-A-U-M-L-A-U-S-E-K-I-N-O. Moise Kino. Moise Kino. I just thought that was charming. And actually, there’s a Hungarian word, Egermozy, which also means mouth cinema. And people are using it to describe any device that has an electronic display like your mobile phone. So you can, you know, take your little mouse cinema and curl up with it and watch a movie.
Right. Yeah. You’re in bed, got the blankets, you’re in grub mode. Curled up, blankets wrapped around you, warm and cozy with your mouse cinema going. That’s nice. I love it.
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