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Eierlegende Wollmilchsau

Learn a funny, quirky German word each week with DW's Word of the Week feature. This week: Eierlegende Wollmilchsau.

https://p.dw.com/p/RlNM
Image: Schwäbisch Hall

Germans have, apparently, never subscribed to the premise that you can't make all the people happy all the time. That's the idea behind the word "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau." Who wouldn't be happy to have a pig that lays eggs, gives milk and produces wool before it's turned into a tasty Sunday roast? These days, the term has come to mean any person or device that's able to be used in a wide variety of ways -- like an alarm clock that makes coffee and toast or a cell phone that reminds you to pickup the dry cleaning.

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