I need to lightheartedly write to a Swiss person about what’s on my bucket list. Does it immediately get lost in translation?, and indeed if I were to explain the origins of the idiom, I could revolt them.
I googled it but couldn’t establish whether the idiom exists in German.
Anyone know ? Better still, is there a Swiss German version? Written in Basel or Davos dialect ?
Thank you for any help.
Best way not to lose anything in translation is to simply refer to it as a “bucket list”. The term seems to be fairly universal. Otherwise “Wunschliste” or something like that.
There is no direct translation for bucket list in German.
Wunschliste is not wrong but as bucket list is specifically about things one wants to do before dying, in German it’s called “Liste der Dinge, die ich noch tun will bevor ich sterbe”. It’s commenly called like that, no short word for it.
I thought that too, but it had a kind of “Amazon shopping list for later” vibe.
Catchy. 
LOL, yeah, the amazon-generation. It would never cross my mind when thinking of wishlist.
yeah, well, that’s German for you 
Being German, I thought it would be more like: DingedieichnochtunwillbevorichsterbeListe.
That’s why English is so popular…otherwise we’d have to explain what you guys say in one or two words!
that’s why Germans talk so fast, because the “words” are so long.
Or they invent words like “unkaputtbar” which after a few years of outrage about them find their way into the Duden.
Duden is still passiv aggressive about it though, labelling it “Werbesprache” (advertising language). To be honest, I don’t like it either and would never use it.
Löffelliste?
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Löffelliste
Die englischen Begriffe Bucket und List lauten übersetzt Eimer und Liste. Was soll denn bitte schön eine Eimer-Liste sein, fragst du dich vielleicht. Dieser Name ist abgeleitet von der englischen Redewendung “kick the bucket”, die wiederum “sterben” bedeutet. Das deutsche Pendant dazu ist „den Löffel abgeben“. Daher wird die Bucket List auch manchmal Löffelliste genannt.
"…meine “Bucket List…”
I saw the term “Löffelliste” but as I never ever heard anybody use that word, I didn’t mention it.
Your explanation makes sense. And finally I also understand why it’s called bucket list.
Löffel abgeben, give your spoons back… meaning your ears.
I know the Löffel abgeben but I never heard about the Löffelliste.
Makes sense since I got the explanation for the bucket list.
Wiki disagrees, says it got nothing to do with a hare’s ears (FTW hunters call them Löffel in German). Also see geboren mit einem goldenen Löffel im Mund, born with a golden spoon [in the mouth].
huh? I didn’t see that bit before Roxi reacted. Yes, that Wiki link explains it perfectly. In German 
I ran it through deepl for OP Pee and anyone else who’s too busy writing their bucket-list:
"Kicking the bucket - den Löffel abgeben
The idiom to kick the bucket (also: to lay down the spoon, …drop the spoon and …throw the spoon away) is usually used to express that someone is dying or has died.
Derivations
The indispensable activity of eating is the inspiration for this idiom. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, poor people often ate porridge together from a large bowl placed in the middle of the table. Everyone had their own spoon, which they often carved themselves and was therefore a personal, indispensable item. As the spoon was necessary for daily survival, putting down or giving up the spoon became symbolic of the end of life - because it was no longer needed for eating when life was over.[1]
In the Black Forest, where a spoon could be seen as an individual object, there was a tradition of not passing on a spoon after the owner’s death, but hanging it on the wall of the farmhouse. Farmhands, on the other hand, were often given a spoon by the farmer, which they had to hand in when they moved on, or which was reused when they died"
I truly believe my first “translation” was shorter. As you can’t title the list with “was ich mit meinem Löffel noch tun will”
Correct, I had to look it up., but isn´t language and finding out the roots of words and of phrases a fun ride?
I love learning the origins of words and phrases and it’s astonishing how far back some words phrases go which are still in use.
Do you think skibidi toilet will be around in one hundred years or gone in a few weeks?
My OH is a Black Forest life-long denizen…and he knew, but didn’t totally understand, this saying until he heard your explanation of the spoon’s historical use. He says it isn’t known in Swabia, but in Baden it is. Thanks, curley!
The praise belongs to Roxi. All I did was run the wikipedia article through deepl.