Dear Neologist,
I am a senior college student planning on opening a coffeehouse of my
very own after I graduate. Until that goal is reached, I must satiate
myself with my at-home coffee and espresso dabbling. As I have strived
in the last few years to educate myself about specialty coffee, I have
unfortunately sensitized myself not only to the joys of good coffee
but to the horrors of coffee poorly treated. While I would have
endeavored to become a coffee geek, I have turned myself into a coffee
snob. Can you help me find a word to describe the difficulty of living
with a disdain for both bad coffee and my own precociousness?
----
Dear Struggling Yet Proud,
Thank you for your question. You are being hit by
Gerechtfertigter Realsnobismus Rückschlag
m, guh-rect'-fair-tig-tur ray-uhl'-sno-biss'-moose rook'-shlug
(justified, realistic snobbery recoil)
The best term to describe the difficulty of living with this condition is the beautiful cognitive dissonance, but this is neither German, nor a compound noun, and thus does not serve our purpose.
For that we have to turn to
Koffeiniertes Geschmacks- und Gefühlsdualitätsleiden
n, cough-eh-ee-neer'-tes guh-shmucks' oont guh-foolz'-lie-dun
(caffeinated taste and feeling duality suffering)
Much like cognitive dissonance, it's a bitch! I often find myself struggling with the same condition, though it is brought on by other triggers. Thus far I have found no reliable cure. In your case, perhaps you can Irish up that coffee? I wish you good luck, both in your entrepreneurial endeavor, and in your quest to reintegrate the dueling parts of your personality.
Mit herzlichen Grüßen,
The Neologist
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