One Reason Why I Hate German Language

I'm in the middle of a German language course, and this week.....another reminder came up on why I dislike the language.

There are two German words to display 'pain' or 'hurt'.  They are schmerzen and tut weh.

Here's the thing.....they both mean the exact same thing.  There is no difference in the meaning of the two words.  If you had to mess around with a German doctor......you'd have to use one of these words.  Same for a German nurse, or some emergency technician.  If you ask any German language expert....they are two separate words with the exact meaning.

So, here's the harsh reality of this.

My instructor this week.....put up twenty-five-odd body parts: Zeh (toes), Knie (knee), Herz (heart), Auge (eyes), Pol (butt), Bauch (stomach), etc.

Here's the thing.....depending on which problem you have, you have to use schmerzen for these, tut weh for those.

Example: Schmerzen: Zahn (teeth), Bauch (stomach), Ohr (ear), and Herz (heart).  For tut weh: Finger (finger), Pol (butt), Auge (eyes), and Bein (leg).

Mixing and matching these? NO.  If this is the knee.....you can only use tut weh.  You can't use schmerzen.

Logic?  There is none.  I even asked the wife later and she admitted.....there is some rule to this, but you can say you have knee schmerzen and the German doctor won't say nothing much.  The nurse writing this into your records.....might correct you and say it can only be tut weh, but no one really cares that much except language experts (her humble words).

Why two description existing with the same meaning but you can only use them for certain things?  Unknown.  Some guy back a thousand years ago probably invented the medical terminology and people just stuck to this guy's rules.

For a non-German.....it just adds to the pain and suffering of people trying to memorize the language and it's just not a practical thing to do.

So if you are ever in a German hospital and got some pain going on, and that nurse wants to correct you on this being a tut weh situation or a schmerzen situation.....well, now you know the basic reason why you need to be corrected.