What does the following sentence mean and what is its origin?
Ich verstehe nur Bahnhof. I've heard this expression from some
friends – I guess it's what you say when you don't really
understand what's going on. You're right with your assumption
about the meaning. It means that someone can not follow or does
not understand a conversation or what it is about. Another
common subject on which this can be used is the plot of a movie
or maybe a play or similar. In this case the meaning is
explained above, but can also include, that the plot isn't
making sense to the person who's saying it. "Ich verstehe nur
Bahnhof" can also be used if you don't understand what is going
on. According to Wiktionary this figure of speech has its
origins in the first World War: The soldiers apparently were
tired of fighting and wanted to return home. Since train was the
primary means of transportation, many soldiers associated the
train station (Bahnhof) with returning home. Because the
soldiers thought a lot about returning home it c