/fɔm ˈhœlt͡sçən aʊ̯fs ˈʃtœkçən ˈkɔmən/ lit. ‘to get from the little piece of wood onto the little stick’
German idiom, colloquial. To jump suddenly from one topic to a completely unrelated one.
Draft Not yet checked by a native German speaker.
How do people use Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
?
Colloquial and friendly, often said about a long chat that wandered all over the place: “Wir sind vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen gekommen.” It’s usually something that happens to you while talking, so it takes “sein” in the perfect tense and isn’t much of an accusation. Grandparents, rambling stories and late-night conversations are the classic setting.
Also said vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen geraten, von Hölzchen auf Stöckchen kommen
Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
in real sentences
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Sie kommt vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen.
She keeps jumping from one topic to the next.
Tatoeba, sentence by Alois, CC BY 2.0 FR
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Nachdem er von Hölzchen auf Stöckchen gekommen war, kehrte er zum Thema zurück.
After digressing, he returned to the subject.
Tatoeba, sentence by Tickler, translation by _undertoad, CC BY 2.0 FR
Where does Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
come from?
Nobody knows where it comes from, and neither German Wiktionary nor the redensarten-index offers an origin. The picture is two near-identical bits of wood: you pick up a twig, then a stick, then another, and end up nowhere in particular. German Wiktionary records older Westphalian and Low German forms, “von Höcksken up Stöcksken kommen”, which suggests it started as a regional rhyming saying.
Mistakes learners make with Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
Using it for a deliberate, sharp change of subject (“Lass uns vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen”). It describes drifting, one small detail leading to the next, so for a hard switch Germans say “das Thema wechseln”. The perfect tense also trips learners up: it’s “wir sind... gekommen”, never “haben”.
Other German idioms like Vom Hölzchen aufs Stöckchen kommen
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?
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