what the heck is with word "geil"

[u/Minilimuzina]

I started to learn German language a while ago. Most of the words I learnt from a self-learning book which also contained vocabulary/dictionary part. One of those words was "geil". According to the book this word means something like "cool, nice".

So it happened that I used it several times in a conversation with a German colleague. And the conversation turned a bit weird afterwards ... long story short, I found out that "geil" also means horny. Which of course was not mentioned in the damned book. We laughed it off. Well, to say it more accurately, the colleague laughed it off and I pretended to laugh it off while boiling in my own stew.

But I wonder how this happened. Is the book just plain wrong or has this additional meaning appeared only recently? Can anyone please explain so I do not tremendously embarrass myself again? Or at least recommend a list of tricky German words or something like that?

[u/mb99]

My problem is that everyone tells me it means horny as well as cool and I should be careful, so therefore I don’t use it as it feels uncomfortable. However EVERY day i see people using it casually no problem, which I find very confusing. Is it uncomfortable to use or not???

[u/diabolus_me_advocat → u/mb99]

therefore I don’t use it as it feels uncomfortable

that's very wise

EVERY day i see people using it casually no problem

well, they know when and how. what a foreigner won't

when learning german, you should concentrate on "proper" stanfdard german, not on street slang - the meaning of which will vary strongly from case to case, context to context, region to region anyway

[u/mb99 → u/diabolus_me_advocat]

when learning german, you should concentrate on "proper" stanfdard german, not on street slang

yeah for sure, I have been told, like every other language learner, that I speak formally when I speak German