Volkswagon

Schnapsidee = Oh darn!

As a teenager I hung out with a German family & I don't think I ever heard this word....

something to do with schnapps ... we used to smuggle it into ballgames in our band horns, and add it to hot chocolate

bragu - you might be on the right track. I think schnapps is German for alcohol or booze in general.

So schnapsidee is a drunk chickadee?

a drunk person

This is a compound word: Schnaps + Idee.

Idee means idea, and so Schnapsidee would mean drunken idea or crazy idea - basically an idea influenced by Schnaps.

A game played in locker rooms with twisted towels.

I agree with Lars. But if I remember correctly, Schnapps is a specific type of alcohol, usually fruit flavored, sometimes mint. Not a general term for all alcoholic beverages. (I am first generation American, of German descent).

Rusty

Schnapps is not the same as Schnaps. Schnaps in German means liquor or alcohol, and schnapps is an English word for a specific kind of alcohol.

Thank you, Lars, I wasn't aware of the difference. I don't remember ever seeing the word written when I was growling up, only spoken. And that was long enough ago I could be remembering all wrong, too.

Rusty

Schnapps and Schnaps are pronounced the same, and so you cannot be aware of the difference except by context or spelling. I majored in German at university, and so I'm familiar with the differences in spellings.

I have a German to German dictionary, and in it, Schnaps also means brandy, but it primarily means strong alcohol or alcoholic drink (non-specific). In this dictionary, Schnapsidee means "verrückter Einfall." Einfall is another word for idea.

lars, i am impressed you remember all of that. I had two years of Deutsche . Alas, all the verbs came in the third year ...

*rimshot*