I should probably admit that despite living in Germany for over a decade, and mostly using German, I’d never come across this until recently. I was briefly *very* confused about headlines talking about lots of Germans buying hamsters.
posted by scorbet at 1:05 PM on March 12, 2020 [11 favorites]

Ham$terweken at Albert Heijn should start any day now.

No handshaking.
posted by humboldt32 at 1:06 PM on March 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

In Swedish, the verb for “to panic-buy” appears to be “att hamstra”, which is presumably related.
posted by acb at 1:22 PM on March 12, 2020 [3 favorites]

The Danish word for hoarding is also hamster. A friend who is there during the lockdown right now says the shops have a poster in the window, translation "Hoarding, for shame!"
posted by mikesch at 1:25 PM on March 12, 2020 [7 favorites]

The European hamster used to be a major farm pest in mainland Europe. They're big. They're often not well thought of, so the Danish poster has a resonance beyond lolhamster.
posted by scruss at 1:43 PM on March 12, 2020 [8 favorites]

Same thing in Polish, "chomikować", to hamster, means gather in excess.
posted by hat_eater at 2:09 PM on March 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

Finland's largest toilet paper manufacturer has assured everyone that Finland will not run out of toilet paper anytime soon in the next 100 years even if you get the runs Matti.
posted by Mrs Potato at 2:16 PM on March 12, 2020 [12 favorites]

I'm gonna need verb conjugations for the Plusquamperfekt, Imperativ, and Futur cases, thanks — I have a lot to communicate regarding my lentil purchases
posted by daveliepmann at 2:33 PM on March 12, 2020 [5 favorites]

daveliepmann, here you go:

hamstern (Infinitiv)
Hamstere! (ugspr. Hamster!) (Imperativ)
1. Person Singular:
Ich hamstere. (Präsens)
Ich hamsterte. (Präteritum)
Ich habe gehamstert. (Perfekt)
Ich hatte gehamstert. (Plusquamperfekt)
Ich werde hamstern. (Futur I)
Ich werde gehamstert haben. (Futur II)
posted by amf at 2:53 PM on March 12, 2020 [21 favorites]

I habe gehamstert 😂😂😂 I love German.

I hadn't heard this expression before but it makes perfect sense.
posted by kitten magic at 3:20 PM on March 12, 2020 [5 favorites]

Alle Toalettpapier ist abgehamstert.
posted by acb at 4:41 PM on March 12, 2020 [12 favorites]

A friend of mine is an Englishman in Berlin. He posted this:

"Someone in [my flatmates'] Whatsapp group asked last week if we should think about "Hamsterkäufen".

I'm ashamed to say I wrote a thoughtful and considered reply saying I didn't think our flat was suitable for any kind of pet.

I was swiftly and brutally educated."
posted by Pallas Athena at 5:53 PM on March 12, 2020 [14 favorites]

Not to bring this post down, but hoarding behavior is not funny. Not funny at all. I had this when I was younger, due to various insecurities. To this day, I hesitate before letting go of a rubber band, "because I might need it later."
posted by SPrintF at 6:58 PM on March 12, 2020 [1 favorite]

My Target was out of toilet paper when I got there but everyone was running around with carts full of paper towels. I honestly hope they’re not expecting to wipe with Bounty when the Charmin runs out.

I propose “schlechterimproversatz” which is hopefully close to “shitty improvised substitute”.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:30 PM on March 12, 2020

Rattenfänger von Hamster!
posted by clavdivs at 8:32 PM on March 12, 2020

Psh. Don't sweat it if you see Hamsterkäufe. It's Hamstersnëes that you should really worry about.




(Joke, just in case it's not obvious from the fake German...)

All kidding aside, in my local store people panic bought veggies. Veggies! Now I'm no expert, but wouldn't non-perishables be a better buy if you're trying to stay inside for weeks at a time?! But then I guess I'm trying to be rational about irrational behavior...
posted by -1 at 9:14 PM on March 12, 2020 [2 favorites]

Now I'm no expert, but wouldn't non-perishables be a better buy

Depending on what type of veg they were buying, they could be planning to make and freeze soups/casseroles/sauces for the pasta and rice.
posted by scorbet at 3:32 AM on March 13, 2020

Gruß Gott from the area between Northern Italy and Germany. Things are getting weird here at an exponential speed, and hamsterkaufen is out of control! Toilet paper, pasta and cans of tomatoes are flying off the shelves!
posted by The River Ivel at 5:26 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

Hamsteren is not just the verb in Dutch, but the major grocery chain, Albert Heijn, has the hamster as their mascot and all their big events (as humboldt32 mentioned) are heralded by ads featuring adorable hamsters. You can even buy cuddly hamster toys in the store or get hamsters to help you celebrate during the World Cup!

Hamstereeeeeeeeeeeen!
posted by sldownard at 8:37 AM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]

Now I'm no expert, but wouldn't non-perishables be a better buy

Since there's a very good chance that I'll be eating mostly from the pantry for the next several weeks, darn right I want to binge on fresh veg up front while I still can.
posted by Lexica at 8:38 AM on March 13, 2020 [3 favorites]

I've not hamstered, per se; I did buy one (1) pack of 10 rolls of TP, one pack of paper handkerchiefs and one pack of tissues. We both have a light case of the sniffles that may be or not be Corona related. Doesn't matter either way, as long as we're feeling okay; we'll avoid contact with others anyway.
I heard about people buying lots of bread, so I went to the mill and bought some extra flour. Who wants to eat stale old bread anyway? We'll bake our own, nice and fresh when we need it.
We have enough of everything to last us for a couple of days, so we can stay in over the weekend and beyond. And after that runs out, we'll simply go out and buy some more.

I did practice low-contact shopping: don't get a trolley, but use the shopping bag instead; pay by card not cash; don't take the receipt.

I managed not to touch my face between washing my hands, going out, shopping, coming back in, and washing my hands again. \o/
posted by Too-Ticky at 10:37 AM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

I'm also trying to eat up my vegetables while I can still get them. I always keep around a month+ of food in house so I'm just fine on non-perishables, but fresh may be tricky at some point in this. Living in an earthquake zone has its advantages, you know to be prepped for the supply chain being screwed up for a substantial period of time.
posted by tavella at 11:04 AM on March 13, 2020

Better than hamsterfuken, I suppose.
posted by slogger at 11:55 AM on March 13, 2020

Definitely happening here in metro Detroit. My husband has sent me various pics of empty shelves and signs with buying limits.
posted by Gadgetenvy at 1:02 PM on March 13, 2020

I'm fulla rage at those fvckin morons hoard-buying out skids of shittr paper just when by coincidence we were happening to be running low of that item. Damn them.
posted by ovvl at 4:30 PM on March 13, 2020

The Danish word for hoarding is also hamster. A friend who is there during the lockdown right now says the shops have a poster in the window, translation "Hoarding, for shame!"

Is that really an excessive amount of groceries? I feel like by the standards of US big-box stores, nothing you can hand-carry in one trip from the car could remotely be considered "hoarding".
posted by Wandering Idiot at 4:57 PM on March 13, 2020 [2 favorites]

Ham$terweken at Albert Heijn should start any day now.

Any day now? The online shop was unusable for most of today because everybody was trying to outsmart all the fools hoarding toilet paper from the shops by erm trying to do the same online.
posted by MartinWisse at 5:01 PM on March 13, 2020 [1 favorite]

Wandering Idiot: Is that really an excessive amount of groceries?

It may have been so in 1942, when that image was designed by Max Eschle. The Danish version was adapted from a piece of nazi propaganda. I found an article here (German) about harding and the public image of hoarders.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:34 AM on March 14, 2020 [1 favorite]

Finland, Friday the 13th, the year 2020: the toilet paper has been cleaned out, and the residential area supermarket's paper towel/napkins/tissues/tp section is empty. the campus had some kitchen towels. I found bread on campus half an hour away, there was none near home. UHT milk is over. pasta was cleaned out. tuna cans. the bus to campus was 1/7th of usual full. noted kids dragging toilet paper home near the dorms when I went to check on a sick student. we're keeping them here. note one young chinese looking man with a black mask. I believe it denotes a death in the family.

30 years ago I read Stephen King's the Stand
posted by Mrs Potato at 6:50 AM on March 14, 2020 [2 favorites]

The regular shopping delivery I have been trying to get this week was cancelled again "due to high volume and low in stock conditions". I'll try again next week when hopefully the rush is over. I actually scheduled it the first time before any of the panic shopping, but on Monday they moved it to a third party delivery service who only left half my stuff, and then my Tuesday order of that missing stuff got cancelled as everyone hit the stores, and then my reschedule on Saturday got cancelled last night. Fortunately my farm box delivery made it Wednesday so I still have fresh vegetables, but I'm out of bacon and sausages and low on eggs so no delicious brunch omelet for me tomorrow.
posted by tavella at 12:39 PM on March 14, 2020

Actually, on checking my freezer, I have venison sausage, so I have pulled it out for tomorrow. I have quite a bit of sausage, just not breakfast sausage but really there's no reason I can't do garlic artichoke chicken sausage for brunch. I shall be able to ride out the storm yet!
posted by tavella at 12:59 PM on March 14, 2020

For on-topic comic relief:
here's a sign language interpreter, translating a speech made by a Dutch minister, captured as the minister tells people not to hamster.
https://twitter.com/DokterBertho/status/1239243656118312965
posted by Too-Ticky at 2:29 PM on March 15, 2020 [1 favorite]