Genetics and heredity

One phrase on this list leads a double life. In a medical letter, erblich vorbelastet is a sober finding: the family history raises the risk of a particular illness, and earlier or more frequent check-ups may be sensible. The participle comes from belasten, to put a load on someone, and vor- says the load was already there before anything happened. From the consulting room the phrase has walked into ordinary conversation, where it is nearly always a joke at one’s own expense. Somebody who cannot hold a tune, loses every card game or has no sense of direction shrugs and says Da bin ich erblich vorbelastet — it runs in the family. English reaches for the family; German reaches for the patient file, and the mock-clinical tone is the whole joke. Said about heart disease it is serious; said about a hopeless sense of direction it is self-mockery, and nobody mistakes one for the other.