Taxes: English Fleeced to German Plucked

It's Tax Time and we're reminded that tax payers have felt fleeced since time immemorial. In German, though, rather than a fleeced sheep, the idiom is a plucked chicken (gerupftes Huhn) as this drawing from a 1908 almanac so entertainingly shows us.

Wie aus einem Menschen ein gerupftes Huhn wird. (Steueramt)

How a person gets turned into a plucked chicken (sign: tax office)

So geht er ins Steueramt.

This is how he goes into the tax office.

So kommt er vom Steueramt.

This is how he leaves the tax office.

FROM: Illustrierter Universal=Kalender für das Jahr 1908 [Verlag] St[einbrener], Winterberg (Vimperk), Czechia.

We hope that you don't feel too plucked this tax season!

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