Gehweg - its purpose should be clear

One thing that tickles me about the German language is how much easier the words are to understand than in English. Okay, so they might, as Mark Twain once said, be so long that they seem to parade across the printed page. On the other hand, though, they are much more down-to-earth because, rather than being based on Latin or Greek, their roots are Germanic.

A simple example of this is the word 'eulogy' in English. What the hell is that? You can't guess from just looking at it. If you look up the etymology of the word (see the link in the dictionary folder to the right), you'll get this:

eulogy (n.)

mid-15c., from Latin eulogium, from Greek eulogia "praise; good or fine language" (in New Testament, "blessing"), from eu "well" (see eu-) + -logia "speaking" (see -logy). Eu legein meant "speak well of."

The German word? Lobrede = praise speech. Or if it's written down Lobschrift = praise writing. Simple. Right?

So how come so many Germans have difficulty in understanding the everyday word that is 'Gehweg'? It literally means 'walk way', i.e. pavement.

Time and again, I have to point out to adult cyclists that what I am walking on is a 'Gehweg' , i.e. a path for people who are walking, and that that bit in the middle of the quiet residential street where you might get one slow car every 10 minutes is what is called a 'street' (Straße). And that that is the bit they should be cycling on.

(Fortunately, I live in Germany so I have never been beaten up for daring to lecture them. Well, not yet.)

Personally, I think that adults that insist on cycling at any speed along any pavement - especially when there is little traffic on the road and often when there is even a nice, wide cycle lane on the street - should not be allowed out of the house without a carer.

If they are too obtuse to learn the difference between a 'Gehweg' (sideWALK as the Americans so clearly put it), a 'Radfahrweg' (bicycle path) and a 'Straße' (road or street) at their age, then they constitute a danger to the public and should, as I said, not be allowed out on the streets without supervision. It's not like the words are veiled in any kind of etymological mystery. 

I rest my case.