Word Up: der Pony

I finally got around to getting my hair cut here in Germany.  This has been difficult to avoid, because I live above a hair salon and have been saying hello to whoever is unlucky enough to have to open the store every morning for the last twelve months or so.  However, I had good reason.  Because, although at home I am used to nodding along as trained professionals advise me that I should lose some length or I need an undercut, I am not yet able to speak hairdresser in German.

However, thankfully, German women's magazines, reinforced by the fact that the best new hot now haircut is a topic of unending interest for their readership, have taught me some of the basic vocabulary. When it comes to learning new languages, there is nothing better than repetition.  Most of it is pretty self-explanatory - inches are translated to centimetres, layers to Schichte, haircut to Haarschnitt.  But, bangs, or a fringe to those of you who dutifully celebrated the Diamond Jubilee last week, are called a Pony.  Of course, we already have a hair-related pony in English - the ponytail.  The Germans have it too, kind of: der Pferdeschwanz, or horse's tail.  This may seem like a harmless difference.  But, when my hairdresser is blabbing on about a schicker Pony and I think he is talking about keeping my hair long enough for a chic ponytail, both of us are going to end up unhappy, because while I am imagining a toller Pfersdeschwanz, he is breaking out the razor to cut some awesome bangs.  Of course, my unhappiness would probably last a lot longer than his.  He would have to endure a night without enough Trinkgeld to buy a (ridiculously expensive German) margarita, but I would be spending months obsessively checking mirrored surfaces, waiting for my hair to grow back out.

Clearly, we all agree that horses have something special going on when it comes to hair.  Whether it's a cute forelock or the long flowing tail, they have a good look. And, to be fair, "bangs" doesn't make much sense as a word to describe hair.  But there has to be a limit - the noble horse can only lend its name to one hairstyle or the other.  German and English will have to duke it out over this one.

image from lesleychou via flickr.com