Hamsterkäufen

English translation: panic buying or panic purchases

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
German term or phrase:Hamsterkäufen
English translation:panic buying or panic purchases
Entered by: Dr. Andrew Hudson

16:44 Dec 4, 2015
German to English translations [PRO]
Social Sciences - History / Post-war situations
German term or phrase: Hamsterkäufen
I know this word is "panic buying" or "hoarding," but in an article on the aftermath of WW2 reference was made to a famine in Austria, with "Hamsterkäufen bei den Bauern." Does this mean that "the farmers were hoarding their produce" or that "citizens were buying up everything from farmers that they could"? Or does anyone have a better alternative?

Thanks as always!
Dr. Andrew Hudson
United States
Local time: 23:35
panic buying or panic purchases
Explanation:
That's the expression I am used to from various contexts.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-12-04 17:53:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And yes, it means they cleaned out all the supplies. It doesn't matter whether those from farmers, merchants or what have you

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-12-04 18:12:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hoarding by farmers, panic buying by consumers..
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p6126da/But-it-was-hoarding-...
Example:
"Although Britain did not suffer from food shortages, as the sea lanes were kept open for food imports, panic buying towards the end of the war prompted the rationing of first sugar and then meat.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days9 hrs (2015-12-07 02:22:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

This discussion has been most revealing and insightful but neither Hamsterkäufe nor panic buying is limited in their applicability to specific historical circumstances. Hamsterkäufe is panic buying no matter where or when it happened…So far, I haven’t seen any solid evidence that would refute that.
http://de.thefreedictionary.com/hamsterkäufe


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days10 hrs (2015-12-07 03:16:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@beermatt:
Your unprovoked rant made it abundantly clear who’s doing the blabbering.
Sweeping statements on groups of people are always a red flag for clouded judgment. Even more revealing is when those doing the ranting don’t even know who belongs or doesn’t belong in the group they’re ranting about.

Selected response from:

Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 00:35
Grading comment
This was by far the most helpful answer. Whew!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
3 +4people buying what they could
Lancashireman
3 +4squirreling away, hoarding, stockpiling
Ramey Rieger (X)
3 +3foraging trips
Thomas Pfann
3buying available food in bulk from farmers
Rachel Hutcheson
3panic buying or panic purchases
Michael Martin, MA


Discussion entries: 48





  

Answers


7 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
people buying what they could


Explanation:
... the market has been full in recent days of people buying what they could, gas lamps, masking tape, dried foods. Now that the deadline has run out people are at home and are likely to stay at home...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/2866547.stm

Dazu kamen Hungersnot mit Hamsterkäufen bei den Bauern
der Umgebung...
On top of that, there was a shortage of food, with people buying what they could from farmers in the surrounding countryside...

1) panic buying: more likely in a pre-war rather than a post-war situation

2) hoarding/stockpiling: from the context, it looks as if they were living hand-to-mouth

3) five words for one: there is no merit in choosing a shorter solution if it misrepresents the situation



Lancashireman
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 252

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  TonyTK: Good analysis
10 hrs
  -> Thanks. Asker found panic buying 'most helpful'.

agree  Michele Fauble: 'buying up whatever they could'
17 hrs
  -> Thanks. The addition of 'up' is good. http://lebomag.com/16131/stewing-in-sadness/

agree  oa_xxx (X)
1 day 12 hrs
  -> Thanks. Asker found panic buying 'most helpful'.

neutral  Michael Martin, MA: Your term, along with others, lacks the sense of urgency inherent in Hamsterkäufe. The discussion has not helped very much to sort that out.
2 days 2 hrs

agree  Thomas Pfann: "people buying (up) what(ever) they can" sounds pretty urgent to me. And the "what they can" part is important IMO - it was not about getting loads of stuff but about getting anything at all (whatever it may be).
2 days 17 hrs
  -> Thanks. Your suggestion ('foraging') captures the mood of the text. The only thing holding me back from voting it up is that - like barter - it goes beyond the term posted here.
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

17 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
buying available food in bulk from farmers


Explanation:
Whilst squirreling away, hoarding, stockpiling are correct for Hamstern, Hamsterkäufen (as far as I can see) refers to how the food was bought. Although it may have been squirreled away / hoarded / stockpiled once it was at home, if you want to refer to how it was bought, buying in bulk / bulk-buying might be more suitable.

Rachel Hutcheson
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:35
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 1
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

8 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +4
squirreling away, hoarding, stockpiling


Explanation:
The first suggestion keeps the beastly reference
stuffing their cupboards


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day17 hrs (2015-12-06 09:59:45 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Here are some other suggestions:
1. besieged/hounded/beleaguered local farmers (for their products)
2. bartered their lives/heritage/valuables away for farmer's produce
3.made regular pilgrimages to outlying farmers to snatch up whatever produce was available

Ramey Rieger (X)
Germany
Local time: 05:35
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 41

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  writeaway: yup. bei isn't by...
7 mins
  -> Nor buy, which would actually be funny...

agree  Kristina Cosumano (X)
52 mins
  -> Much obliged, KristinaC. Hope you're well!

agree  Björn Vrooman: Don't squirrels forget where they hid their food? That would've been unfortunate here.
1 hr
  -> Very unfortunate. But imagery is not concerned with facts..

neutral  beermatt: as much as you're right generally about "Hamsterkäufe", in this particular situation your suggestions don't quite work -- maybe "hoarding", but not even that.
1 day 10 hrs
  -> Yes, that came with the further context.

agree  Eleanore Strauss: All these terms imply buying what they could get their hands on and then hoarding it (or squirreling it away - yes!)
2 days 10 hrs
  -> Hi Elli, time travel? Food travel? Who'd have thought it would trigger mind travel?

neutral  Michael Martin, MA: Considering the historical context is commendable but the expression “Hamsterkäufe” is not tied to any specific historical period so there’s no need to coin a term that captures the specificity of that situation//Should we "improve" the source text?
2 days 22 hrs
  -> The term may not be specific, the historical context is.// I have no idea what you're getting at. there have been SO MANY words written on this term. I stand by my suggestions, what else?
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 day 19 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5 peer agreement (net): +3
Hamsterkäufe/Hamsterfahrten
foraging trips


Explanation:
Noch ein später Vorschlag: „foraging trips“ könnte hier auch gut passen, weil dabei nicht mitschwingt, auf dem Land hätte es Dinge im Überfluss gegeben. Man kam von diesen Hamsterfahrten nicht immer unbedingt schwer bepackt nach Hause. Manchmal kehrte man sicher auch mit leeren Händen zurück oder musste sich mit ein paar Kartoffeln begnügen. Man hat also nicht unbedingt in großen Mengen gekauft, sondern man hat gekauft, was man gefunden hat.

Noch ein bisschen Kontext aus einem österreichischen Heimatbuch:
„Für die Städter war die Situation wegen der noch mehr fehlenden Lebensmittel und der geringen Rationen noch schwieriger. Diese kamen daher aufs Land, auch in unsere Gemeinde, und kauften "illegal" bei den Bauern ein. Diese illegalen Einkäufe nannte man Hamsterkäufe, daher bekamen diese auch bald den Beinamen Hamsterer.“
http://www.ertl.gv.at/gemeinde/heimatbuch/nachkriegszeit.htm...

Beispiele für die Verwendung des Ausdrucks „foraging trip“ in diesem Kontext:

"Faced with pervasive conditions of scarcity, Berliners turned to the unofficial economy and made foraging trips out into the surrounding coutryside to barter with farmers or traded on the black markets that sprang up in the city."
Source: "Encyclopedia of the Cold War" (edited by Ruud van Dijk)
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QgX0bQ3Enj4C&lpg=PA84&ot...

"The black market exemplified one of the negative features of insularity. Sealed off from the outside, with no hinterland that could be explored on foraging trips it was a lot more difficult to alleviate shortages and counter the imbalance between goods and liquidities."
Source: "The British Channel Islands under German occupation, 1940-1945" by Paul Sanders
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RQYWJABaRAEC&printsec=fr...

Hamstern (Hamsters): Hoarders who went on foraging trips, especially to obtain scarce food from farmers in the country. The term was originally coined by Nazi Minister of Propaganda Dr. Paul Joseph Goebbels. During the war he had stated certain people should be denounced and criminalized because they behaved like hamsters which hoarded supplies and plied them in a selfish manner at the expense of the community. However, in postwar Germany the term “hamster” lacked much negative connotation as such activity became a life-sustaining practice.
http://www.return2style.de/1939-49/schwarzmarkt/amischwarzma...


Thomas Pfann
United Kingdom
Local time: 04:35
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  oa_xxx (X)
33 mins

agree  seehand
1 day 3 hrs

agree  Lancashireman
2 days 8 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 3/5Answerer confidence 3/5
panic buying or panic purchases


Explanation:
That's the expression I am used to from various contexts.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-12-04 17:53:30 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

And yes, it means they cleaned out all the supplies. It doesn't matter whether those from farmers, merchants or what have you

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2015-12-04 18:12:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Hoarding by farmers, panic buying by consumers..
https://www.coursehero.com/file/p6126da/But-it-was-hoarding-...
Example:
"Although Britain did not suffer from food shortages, as the sea lanes were kept open for food imports, panic buying towards the end of the war prompted the rationing of first sugar and then meat.[5]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationing


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days9 hrs (2015-12-07 02:22:38 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

This discussion has been most revealing and insightful but neither Hamsterkäufe nor panic buying is limited in their applicability to specific historical circumstances. Hamsterkäufe is panic buying no matter where or when it happened…So far, I haven’t seen any solid evidence that would refute that.
http://de.thefreedictionary.com/hamsterkäufe


--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 days10 hrs (2015-12-07 03:16:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

@beermatt:
Your unprovoked rant made it abundantly clear who’s doing the blabbering.
Sweeping statements on groups of people are always a red flag for clouded judgment. Even more revealing is when those doing the ranting don’t even know who belongs or doesn’t belong in the group they’re ranting about.



Michael Martin, MA
United States
Local time: 00:35
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in GermanGerman, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 74
Grading comment
This was by far the most helpful answer. Whew!

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Daniel Arnold (X): I think you are spot on. Buying everything the farmers had on offer in a panic.
2 days 3 hrs
  -> Thanks. Nice to get a comment that's not unhinged.

disagree  Björn Vrooman: Last sentence of your added comment: Precisely what I thought and I think such rants have no place here. Was tempted to leave it at neutral, but your additional remarks to others askers warrant some constructive(!) criticism, in my view (see discussion).
2 days 22 hrs
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)



Login or register (free and only takes a few minutes) to participate in this question.

You will also have access to many other tools and opportunities designed for those who have language-related jobs (or are passionate about them). Participation is free and the site has a strict confidentiality policy.

KudoZ™ translation help

The KudoZ network provides a framework for translators and others to assist each other with translations or explanations of terms and short phrases.


See also:
Term search
  • All of ProZ.com
  • Term search
  • Jobs
  • Forums
  • Multiple search