What does “Das ist mir Wurst” mean in German?
Streit ums Pferd und fiese Beleidigungen
C1 German listening practice · Bavarian German · Picked for people who know a lot
Das ist mir Wurst translates literally as that’s sausage to me, and idiomatically as I don’t care, it’s all the same. The common origin story points to the shape of a sausage: two ends that look identical, so it doesn’t matter which one you eat first. Wurst sein (to be sausage) became fixed German slang for not worth distinguishing, useful for shrugging off menu choices, plans, or someone’s opinion. Variants include völlig Wurst, Wurschtigkeit, and Austrian wurschtegal. Bavarian and Austrian German push it further with mock-philosophical takes: Mir is alles wurscht außer mei Wurscht (everything is sausage to me except my sausage).
In this clip, a Bavarian speaker brushes off a friend’s saddle complaint: “Ach, das ist doch Wurst.”
How common are the words?
How common are the words in this C1 German listening practice video?
How common in written German
How common in spoken German
Harder words in this video
These words are harder than C1. Here is what they mean.
Source: wordfreq 3.1.1 (general) · SUBTLEX-DE 2011 (spoken). These numbers are close, not perfect.
- ▸In German and Austrian sitcoms and sketch comedy (Stromberg, Pastewka, Willkommen Österreich)
- ▸In Austrian and Bavarian beer-tent and Stammtisch talk
- ▸In German TikTok and YouTube food channels (Sallys Welt, Felicitas Then)
- ▸In Austrian and German football fan podcasts shrugging off a draw
- ▸In German pop and Schlager songs that lean into food metaphors (Helene Fischer, Wanda)