Small Viennese glossary for guests –
Some of the expressions we use here are really special and might stay with you for a lifetime after a visit to Vienna.
Servus in Vienna
so we greet you warmly when
you come to visit us.
Leiwand
we say when we think something is great. So it is very leiwand that you visit us in Vienna
Tramway
some older Viennese call the streetcar. The fact that it sounds English is no coincidence, because the first streetcars came from England and they were still pulled by horses back then.
Bim
is how almost everybody calls the streetcar today We are thinking of the typical bells with which the drivers alert careless passers-by or car drivers to the approaching streetcar.
Melange
is just one of the many ways of preparing coffee that we enjoy in Vienna and one of the most popular: coffee with milk and milk foam in a medium-sized cup, to which, however, we say Häferl.
Whipped cream
is called Schlagobers here and it has no place in a typical melange. We love whipped cream with Sacher cake.
Kipferl
is the name of the slightly sweet pastry in the shape of a crescent moon, which together with a melange makes a fine Viennese breakfast. The shape resembles a croissant, but the dough is quite different. Best you taste a Kipferl right away.
Seidl
is a measure of beer, and it is 0.3 liters. The Seidl is the small beer, its bigger brother is called Krügerl (0.5 liters) and those who have only a very small thirst for beer choose a Pfiff (0.2 liters).
Würstelstand
is our name for a hot dog stand. It is that kiosk where you can choose among different sausages: Frankfurter, Debreciner, Käsekrainer and Burenwurst are the classics. If you want to know more, the sausage man (still it is mostly a male job) will be happy to explain everything.
Hatschen
is sometimes part of getting to know a city and means walking around for a long time. So that hatschen doesn’t become too bland (= Viennese for boring), we best set off together. With enough breaks to enjoy Vienna.
Baba
is our farewell greeting when you have to leave again. We look forward to the next time!
Pomali
means leisurely, deliberate, slow, little by little. Like many words in the Viennese dialect, it comes from Czech, where pomalý means moving at low speed
