kitsch 的詞源

1926年，源自德語 kitsch，字面意思爲“俗氣，垃圾”，源自方言 kitschen “塗抹”。此前，這個德語詞彙已經在英語中使用。

What we English people call ugliness in German art is simply the furious reaction against what Germans call süsses Kitsch, the art of the picture postcard, and of what corresponds to the royalty ballad. It has for years been their constant reproach against us that England is the great country of Kitsch. Many years ago a German who loved England only too well said to me, 'I like your English word plain; it is a word for which we have no equivalent in German, because all German women are plain.' He might well have balanced it by saying that English has no equivalent for the word Kitsch. [Edward J. Dent, "The Music of Arnold Schönberg," "The Living Age," July 9, 1921]

我們英國人所謂的德國藝術中的醜陋，只是對德國所謂的 süsses Kitsch ——明信片藝術和對應於王室歌謠的藝術的狂熱反應。多年來，他們一直在指責我們英格蘭是 Kitsch 的大國。許多年前，一位熱愛英格蘭的德國人對我說：“我喜歡你們英語中的 plain 這個詞； 這是一個我們德語中沒有相應詞彙的詞，因爲 all 德國女人都很 plain。”他可能會平衡一下，說英語中沒有 Kitsch 這個詞的相應詞彙。[愛德華·J·登特，《阿諾德·勳伯格的音樂》，《生活時代》雜誌，1921年7月9日]