Sehnsucht
Verschlimmbessern
The German word "Verschlimmbessern" means "To make something worse in the very act of trying to improve it." This terms intrigues me because there are many occasions where people try to overcompensate after making a mistake. When I was taking calligraphy lessons years before, my teacher always told me, "a Chinese character is like a dog (or any other animals for that matter), and it becomes uglier if you try to add strokes to make it look perfect." At first I was not convinced, however, I did try not to make mistakes while writing. Occasionally, because of lack of attention, I did miswrite characters, and to "cover it up," I tried to add additional strokes to complement whatever is lacking; when my finished work is hung on a wall for scrutiny, those additional strokes became visible as lumps of black ink. I might incorporate "Verschlimmbessern" into your everyday vocabulary from now on when seeing someone trying to compensate for whatever mistakes they have made but only to make them worse.
