ich kotz gegen die Wand

[Tina Turner]

Hi, everyone.

I am sorry to be writing here in English. But I was watching a German movie with English subtitles, and there was a line that seemed weird to me. Probably is a German idiomatic expression that was translated in its literally meaning. Could you help me out, please? The scene is a girl who is pleased to encounter her best friend, but when they meet, she realizes that her friend went to visit her with her boyfriend (a guy that she hates). So, she says this line when she sees him:

The line in German was: "Gott, ich kotze. Ich kotze, aber ich kotz gegen die Wand".
The line In English was: "Oh God, I feel sick. I feel sick, but I'll be sick on the wall."

 

[JClaudeK]

"kotzen" = to vomit, to puke

"ich kotze" is an expression of disgust.

But she has "the decency" to vomit (virtually) towards the wall, not into the face of the guy she hates.

 

[Thersites]

From this sentence it is not at all clear what the significance of the wall is. Gegen die Wand kotzen is not a fixed German expression.

Possible explanations:
A parallel to Gegen eine Wand reden (an expression meaning that somebody is not listening to you)
Or simply that it is an insult since she prefers the wall to her ex.

All in all it doesn't make much sense.

 

[Tina Turner]

From this sentence it is not at all clear what the significance of the wall is. Gegen die Wand kotzen is not a fixed German expression.

Possible explanations:
A parallel to Gegen eine Wand reden (an expression meaning that somebody is not listening to you)
Or simply that it is an insult since she prefers the wall to her ex.

All in all it doesn't make much sense.

So, the line itself is awkward... @JClaudeK pointed out that could be that even though she gets sick by seeing him, she won't throw up on him, but on the wall... I guess it is really something like that then!

Thanks a lot @Thersites and @JClaudeK

 

[Frieder]

There are quite a lot of expressions with kotzen expressing disgust or even hatred.

Ich kotz(e)
Ich kotz im Strahl
Ich kotz ins Essen
Ich könnte kotzen
Das ist zum Kotzen

etc.

"Ich kotz gegen die wand" is new to me, but it could be a combination of "scheiß die Wand an" and "ich kotz" (pardon my French).