Don't worry, I don't know much German at all :p Just out of interest though, do you know any chiasmuses in German?
RE: What is the longest word in the English language?
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What is the longest word in the English language?
Yes;
Ach Gott! Die Kunst ist lang;
Und kurz ist unser Leben.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Faust I
der Herr brach das Brot,
das Brot brach den Herrn.
Paul Celan : Fadensonnen
Eng ist die Welt, und das Gehirn ist weit.
Friedrich Schiller: Wallensteins Tod
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@bluescreen - you were close but not quite there with the chiasmus. It has to be the same words or sentence structure reversed. So an example would be:
"Are you working hard or hardly working?"
As you can see, the word 'work' and 'hard' changed order in the second part of the sentence, leading to a very different meaning.
Dr Mardy Grothe has lots of examples on his website if you are interested to find out more: http://www.drmardy.com/chiasmus/book
This is what I got from Google Translate for your German phrases, is it about right?:
Oh God! The art is long;
And short is our life.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe: Faust I
the Lord broke the bread,
the bread broke the Lord.
Paul Celan: Thread suns
Tight is the world, and the brain is far.
Friedrich Schiller: Wallenstein's death
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