Given the recent international warnings concerning Irish pork, Gammelfleisch is my new favorite word of the month.  Roughly translated, the word refers to suspect meat that’s past its sell-by date. It’s kinda still edible, at your own risk sort of thing, and definitely not in the spirit of EU consumer legislation. 

I learnt about Gammelfleisch from some attendees at a recent localization conference in Dublin. Gammelfleisch was in the news in Germany during the year because of the Gammal-Skandal there when dodgy meat was supplied to kebab restaurants.

Seems like German kids are now using the term to describe people older than themselves, and a get together of such old fogeys (anyone over the age 30) is known as a Gammelfleischparty:

At best they resemble the worst wedding reception disco you have ever been to, with dozens of people dancing like your drunken uncle to tunes from the dark ages.

Gammelfleischparty is now the German youth word of the year, and I’m told that Ü30 (for Über-30) is another good German term used to describe the same scene.

So, now you’ll have something to talk about at the office Christmas party…