12

Actually I don't know where did I learn the word Tschüßie, but I suspect that is a word that is not so frequently used by men[*]. Is it true?

*And I don't know if there is a term for that phenomenon. And it's only a guess that there exist words used predominantly by women or men: bad words for example.

c.p.
  • 30,753
  • 21
  • 105
  • 229

2 Answers2

12

Yes, there are words or phrases preferred by men or women. And they are used with different gradations, and in certain situations.

Tschüssi is much more preferred by women but also common for men and noone would stumble about that when a man uses it. You use it to say Bye to good friends.

Typical woman stuff is also: der/die/das ist süß / niedlich (engl. cute) while a man would use schön (engl. beaut), or written LG (as Liebe Grüße) while a man rather uses cooler stuff.

You can say that phenomenon is Verniedlichung vs. Lässigkeit.

äüö
  • 10,236
  • 2
  • 30
  • 59
10

Yes.

"Tschüssie" is definitely gendered, as far as I can tell - I've never heard a (straight) man use it without a heavy dose of irony.

It's different, however, with the more convoluted (and by now a bit old-fashioned) "Tschüssikowski" [not sure about the spelling] - this tends to be used more frequently by men, in my observation at least.

You might also be interested in this article on wikipedia: language and gender

EDIT: Please note that this answer is a descriptive observation. As a general rule, stereotypes of any kind should not be perpetuated - they do exist, however, and non-natives should be aware of them.

Mac
  • 7,198
  • 23
  • 30
  • 2
    Ob es für die Straße ist, darüber kann man streiten - keine der beiden Versionen ist jedefalls Standard :) Vermutlich wird es Dir mit einem einfachen "Tschüss" besser gehen. – Mac Jul 17 '13 at 11:03
  • 1
    Tschüssikowski is totally out, the hype was for a while but 20 years ago. I would remove it from the answer. – äüö Jul 17 '13 at 11:29
  • @falkb: Lol, I'm totally dating myself, or rather the people I interact with, I guess - but I still hear it occasionally... – Mac Jul 17 '13 at 11:33
  • 1
    "Tschüssi", in my perception, is also sometimes used by males in an obviously exaggerated gay context, like in comedy tv. So it, in some ears, has some flavour in this direction... – sinned Jul 17 '13 at 11:40
  • 5
    I really don't think it is a geod idea t strengthen gender stereotypes. I have heard "Tschüssie" from men and women alike, and i am not aware of any rules that gay men have to use different words... – Burki Aug 27 '15 at 10:14
  • @Burki: Valid comment, but while I agree that stereotypes shouldn't be reinforced, just ignoring them doesn't really help... especially if the question specifically asks about gender stereotypes. And of course there aren't any rules how anybody has to express themselves - but I think it's fair to tell a non-native that certain expressions will create a certain impression. – Mac Aug 27 '15 at 12:12
  • 3
    It is, to the best of my knowledge, not gendered in any way. It does sound somewhat cutesie, but I've seen both men and women (straight, as far as I know - I don't go around asking people for their sexual orientation) use it non-ironically. It may be perceived differently depending on which german-speaking part of the world you are at the moment, but the same is true of nearly everything else in german as well. – Cubic Aug 29 '15 at 03:09