Interestingly, your sources show very well that dictionaries apart from Leo seem not to know this. On the other hand, I find the term "to flash" for getting photographed by the Police while speeding in constant use within my company, where English speakers from a lot of nations are working together.

To make myself clear: Even the native speakers from England, USA and India use the term frequently without hesitation. On the other hand, they all have been exposed to people living in Germany, or non-native English speakers with a German background.

So, if any native speaker not working with a bunch of Germans polluting that nice language of yours could comment ;-) ?

I'm no English native speaker as well but I'm pretty sure that I've heard the term over here in England for being photographed by the police while speeding by native speakers.

Anyway, as Sven said, if any native speaker could comment upon this.

As someone who has never worked or lived in Germany, I would have said exactly the same as hermarphromoose.

Flashing is what sinister men in trenchcoats lurking outside school buildings do (or were said to when I was a kid).

As for what German police do with those annoying cameras, well, I would have guessed that even English speakers working in Germany would have just said 'blitzed,' sort of the way some of them have taken up Handy, because it just sounds cute. Sort of as an inside joke.

'Zap' is understandable, and I like it, but my hunch is that it's more of a rough-and-ready equivalent than an existing usage. That is, perhaps we could form a movement to try to spread it, but I'm not sure it's there yet.

I think if I were trying to describe this to an English speaker unfamiliar with driving in Germany, I would just have to say something like 'got caught on camera in a police radar trap.' Admittedly unwieldy, but as opposed to suggesting that German police go around exposing themselves to motorists, perhaps still the lesser of two evils? Though actually, that could be taken as an inside joke as well ... (-:

*f5* re #2: Possibly an AE/BE difference, then?

In the US, cameras for speeding are pretty much unknown AFAIK, though cameras for running red lights are spreading fast in larger cities.

that's what I thought hm--us,
I haven't heardt of speed cameras in the US I mean such as we've got over here in Germany. (But you might be caught on the radar "thing" :) by a cop on a highway)

But in England, there are speed cameras everywhere, I'd say there are even more than in Germany. Maybe it is known there because as I said, I think I have heardt this expression over here before, though I'm not really sure.

Das mit den unterschiedlichen Techniken der Polizei könnte eine Erklärung sein, hm.
Das Wort "blitzen, geblitzt werden" wird man auch in keinem deutschen Wörterbuch finden, schätze ich, insofern ist das Fehlen eines entsprechenden Worts in englischen Wörterbüchern nicht beunruhigend.

Was eine deutsche Übersetzung für "to flash so." angeht: Ich fürchte, das muss man genauso umständlich erklären, wie ein Amerikaner "blitzen" beschreiben muss (#3).
Sein T-Shirt heben
Die Brüste zeigen
Seine Genitalien zeigen
Halt: To flash so. - sich vor jmd. entblößen
Ist allerdings nicht die gleiche Sprachebene...

web examples:
• Red Light Cameras ... I know this because one of my friends got zapped last week. ... I generally like red light cameras. Red light runners are blatantly out of control in many metro areas. Make em pay.
• Traffic Light Camera's [sic] ... i was driving home from the spectacular Debenhams sale last night when i got zapped with one of these for running a red light.
• Got Zapped by Photo Radar ... I should note that these particular tickets are for RED LIGHT violations.
• he's seen red-light camera pictures that captured a microsecond when both the yellow and the red lights were glowing at the same time. ... The lesson: Take a good look at the photo before paying the fine. ... No one knows that better than a lawyer, which is why Phoenix attorney C. decided to ask S. for help after he got zapped. ... After Mesa City Councilman M. got flashed while running a red light ...
• Police cameras at traffic lights - Munich: I saw the red light flash camera go off as I went through the intersection. .... I got zapped near the Deutsche Museum today... ( http://www.toytowngermany.com/lofi/index.php/... )
• What annoys me even more than red-light cameras is the automated speeding cameras. I got zapped by them twice when we lived in DC.
• Traffic lights and police ... I only mention this as I was forced to go through a red light yesterday on my ... slightly different I know but i got zapped by a camera during a storm
• Redlight Cameras ... The red light/speed cameras in adelaide, are triggered by a pad before ... about this camera although it was on the other side of the rd but yea a taxi sped past me at the last minute and got zapped
• Naas road speed check ... I saw that, think I might have got zapped as well ... That's a red light camera. It's for catching amber gamblers (site:.ie)
• Here in the Virginia Colony we have Red Light Cameras ... Can only say that the only time I got zapped I was behind some guy
• Seems to be the latest clamp down by the police are Red light offences along ... saying that she has got zapped going through an amber traffic light
• Anyone else get caught on a French speed camera??? Got Zapped by every camera on the way down last year - had my foot down and was not paying a huge amount of attention
• What camera detector ?? ... Got zapped by a camera last week 62 in a 50 My first ticket for 10 years I'm thinking of buying a camera/speed trap detector.
• If I didn't get zapped by at least one of the 3 speed cameras I sped towards this weekend ... I thought I got copped again with a mobile speed camera this morning

Okay, I'm not sure we can prove that 'flash' is actually incorrect, though it would be nice if we could prove or disprove the hypothesis that it needs to be marked [Brit.]

However, I did in fact find quite a few examples of 'zap' in this sense, so I don't think it would hurt to add it as an alternative.

And I think it would still be helpful to add some translation for the usual (AE?) sense of 'to flash so.,' even if one side is [ugs.] (or possibly even slang) and the other isn't. Would 'blitzartig' or 'blitzschnell' or something instead of just 'schnell' be too weird-sounding, too exaggerated?

I sometimes catch my English being "polluted", but if someone said to me,
"I got flashed last night"
I would immediately interpret it as hermarphromoose. If this was done by the police, that would be conduct unbecoming of an officer. ;-)

It IS used with respect to speed cameras in the UK

I was over in the UK last month and a GP friend arriving late for dinner announced "I was flashed on the way here" - she was referring to a speed camera and not a dirty old man in a raincoat.

From the Police National Legal Database:
"A speed camera has flashed me, when will I know if I am going to get a ticket?"
http://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q215.htm

Metropolitan Police:
"A speed (traffic light) camera has flashed me. When will I know if I am going to be prosecuted?"
http://www.met.police.uk/askthemet/502.htm

"Twice as many car drivers who have been flashed for speeding in the past three years have also crashed in that period."
http://www.independent.co.uk/living/motoring/...

"Have you just got flashed by a speed camera?"
http://www.justgotflashed.com/default.aspx

@hm-us: Vielleicht "kurzzeitig" entblößt statt "schnell, etc."?

Chambers:
flash - ... (v) .. 8 [intrans, colloq] (usually 'flash at someone') said of a man: to expose his genitals in a public place as an exhibitionist, often directed at an individual, usually a woman.

Concise OED:
flash - (v.) ... 5 [informal] (of a man) show one's genitals in public.

NOAD:
flash - ... 2: ... • [informal] (esp. of a man) show one's genitals briefly in public.
[emphasis added]

Okay, lovely. I predict that in 10 or 20 years the radar-camera sense will be AE as well, but in the meantime, maybe a [Brit.] tag would be useful. (-:

What about the 'of a man' part? That was actually my first reaction when I read the M-W definitions that included breasts, but maybe I'm behind the times. Do we use the word 'flash' for, say, women in New Orleans at Mardi Gras? If so, is that angle mainly AE?

Do we use the word 'flash' for, say, women in New Orleans at Mardi Gras?
Yes, you do. Try googling "flashing girls" ;-)

Pons-Collins:
flasher - ... b: (Brit inf: = person exposing himself/herself) Exhibitionist(in)

Oxford-Duden:
flasher - ... b: (Brit. coll.: who exposes himself) Exhibitionist

NOAD:
flasher - ... 2: [informal] a person, esp. a man, who exposes their genitals in public.

So, one more while we're at it.

Back to the German side: would 'kurz' be better than 'schnell'?

re #13: Ah. Thanks for solving that, then, I'll just take your word for it.

*now anticipating an increase in New Orleans tourism*

belatedly re #11: And thanks also for anticipating my other question. Duh, I should have known that. (-:

Sorry, but this thread is just too irresistable. ;-)

I'm sure women can be flashers too (hey, LEO doesn't have the noun either!) Didn't that happen at some football game a while back with a singer? She claimed it was unintentional, somehow lost in the passion of her own singing...

Did anyone check? Actually, LEO does have one definition for "to flash" in this sense.
Siehe Wörterbuch: flash
to flash = die nackten Brüste zeigen
Interesting...

Bargain for beads. Be a bead lawyer but beware of police uniforms when you're tempted to go beyond a chest flash. [...]
What will get me picked up by the police?
"Pissing anywhere but porta-potties or restrooms. Climbing up balcony posts. Touching a policeman's horse. Flashing if you're told not to (female) and flashing your lower extremities if you're male.
(http://www.carnaval.com/no/mardigrastips/ )

Das mit dem Googlen ist nicht so einfach, man sieht je nach Filtereinstellung entweder zu viel oder zu wenig. Oben ein Auszug aus Seite die "safe" ist.

Zu "kurz": ich wäre doch für "kurzzeitig", es soll auch "lange" Exhibitionisten geben ;-)

Leo hat ja auch schon "to moon"...
die nackten Menschen, die bei Sportveranstaltungen über das Feld rennen, heißen bei uns übrigens "Flitzer" - hat Leo auch schon.

I heard British people say occasionally "I got caught speeding", and as I don't think they have the US-type highway patrols who follow speeders and flag them down (is that the only way you get caught speeding in the US, if you have no cameras?), couldn't that be an alternative for BE 'blitzen'?

Heißen flashers auch im Justiz-/Polizeigebrauch so? Exhibitionist geht auf Deutsch nämlich für beides - ugs. und gehobener Sprachgebrauch.

When I read herm's contribution earlier, I could see there was great potential for AE/BE misunderstanding here *groan*;-).
Just another contribution from a British perspective:
Like Marianne, I would associate "to be / to get flashed" with speed cameras. Indecent exposure, on the other hand, would be "to be / to get flashed at", so in BE it's important to know the difference between "I was flashed at coming home tonight" and "I was flashed coming home tonight".

Yes, I know the OED says for "to flash":
c. trans. (also refl.). slang. Of a man: to exhibit or expose (part of one's body, esp. the genitals) briefly and indecently. Also intr.

but in my experience we tend to use the reflexive form ("he flashed himself at me") or the passive construction ("to be / to get flashed at").

There's another BE meaning of "to flash" that I don't think has been mentioned here: to flash one's headlights at someone.
Only yesterday I was driving from a national speed limit zone to a 50 zone with a lorry breathing down my neck. When I braked to slow down to 50 he flashed me and at the first opportunity overtook me
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp...
Soon I could see him in my mirrors. He flashed me and I waved back with two fingers.
http://www.creationsport.co.uk/results/Spa/bv...


Fun this, isn't it:-))?

@hm--us: Welcome back! Hope you had a great time.

@spinatwachtel:
as I don't think they have the US-type highway patrols who follow speeders and flag them down
Oh yes we do. The patrol cars lurk with their vascar devices on bridges over motorways (amongst other places) and then give chase (not that it's ever happened to me, of course;-)). You have been warned...

January 20, 2002 - Pitch for red light cameras in Alaska surfaces: "Jack Simmers sees drivers blowing through red lights nearly every morning as he heads south on LaTouche Street at Northern Lights Boulevard, taking his kids to school. "I don't pull out after the light turns green," he said. "You can almost guarantee there's one that will go through the red light." ("Red-light runners may get snapped; ROGERS PARK: Council wants city to consider cameras at intersections", Rosemary Shinohara, Anchorage Daily News, 1/20/2002]

Etwas schwierig die Belege dafür beizubringen, aber umgangssprachlich sagt man hier (US) wenn die Verkehrskamera "zugeschlagen" hat : I got snapped. "Zapped" habe ich noch nicht gehört, aber das ist vielleicht lokal unterschiedlich. "Zapped" kenne ich nur, wenn die Käfer in den "Bug Zapper" fliegen. Aber so schlimm wird man hier bei Geschwindigkeitsübertretungen nicht bestraft :-)

German Gal in US

Hey! hm--us is back and posted in my thread! *feeling very honored* :-}

wpr - Thanks for your discovery of the pairing "to flash" = "die nackten Brüste zeigen". I had only been looking for "to flash so." and totally overlooked that. I did see that LEO had "Flitzer" for "streaker", which is good, but they're still missing a verb for "streaking" (would it be "flitzen"?), and streaking is definitely different than flashing.

I think Anne and Marianne (and other DElers in GB) have shown that the entry as it is now needs a "[Brit.]".

And hm--us has touched on the underlying problem here, that in the US, there are no "speed cameras" per se, but rather cops that sit in their car or on their motorcycle with a radar gun and then speed after you and pull you over after they've "zapped" you, or whatever it is they do with their radar guns. ;-} I realized too, as I formulated my original entry, that we usually don't speak of it this way, but rather say something like, "I got caught speeding today," "Got caught in a speed trap today," or "A cop pulled me over for speeding today," or simply, "I got a speeding ticket today."

Still, the problem of how to talk about this situation in Germany (but in (Amer.) English) has been nagging me. Up to now, it's either been, as hm--us touched on in #3, "I got blitzed" or "Watch out, they're blitzing on the A9," or else "flashed", but whenever I use or hear "flashed" I can't help thinking about how Germanized it sounds.

I think most Germans would not dare to use "blitzing" for the speed control result, since there (still?) is the military meaning of "to blitz" as "to throw bombs at someone" - and although our police can get quite harsh on speeders, it does not go THAT far...

Just came across another alternative for the AE side:

A man was speeding down an Alabama highway, feeling secure in a gaggle of cars all traveling at the same speed. However, as they passed a speed trap, he got nailed with an infrared speed detector and was pulled over.
http://www.ahajokes.com/pol41.html

Admittedly, without context, this is also not such a great alternative!
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?ter...

@Sven (22):
Naja, ich habe Zivildienst gemacht. Ich würde nie auf die Idee kommen, dass blitzen eine militärische Bedeutung hat (abgesehen von Blitzkrieg). Ich kenne neben dem elektrischen Blitz das Verb blitzen eigentlich nur für Geschwindigkeitskontrollen (oder Rotlichtverstöße).

Andererseits kommt mir der Blitzer auch in der Bedeutung Exhibitionist bekannt vor, Google kann das aber nicht bestätigen.

re Anne (gb)'s other BE meaning of to flash headlights, drivers will also flash you to warn you of a hidden mobile camera.

@Anne (gb)
>Fun this, isn't it:-))? 
An oncoming driver may flash you to be polite but if a driver flashes at you, he is coming on ;-)

@Udo 22:
Im Deutschen hat "blitzen" sicherlich keine militärische Bedeutung. Im Englischen aber schon (sagt auch Leo), und zwar genau vom Blitzkrieg. Da es, sagen wir mal, gelegentlich vorkommen kann, daß Engländer in Gesellschaft von Deutschen auf äußerst feinfühlige Art auf den zweiten Weltkrieg anspielen, würde ich "to blitz" nicht verwenden, um eine solche Assoziation gar nicht erst aufkommen zu lassen.

Wie lustig. Ich hätte auch darauf schwören können "I got flashed" schon von Amerikanern gehört zu haben. Wäre mal interssant zu erfahren, welche Begriffe von in Deutschland lebenden englischen Muttersprachlern aus dem Deutschen in deren Jargon übernommen werden, die wir Deutschen dann als richtig empfinden, weil wir sie auch oft genug hören.

babs - We should start a different thread for that ... I can already think of so many that I've used myself, ohje ohje ...

28 posts and nearly 5 years later, there still doesn't seem to be any entry for the most common slang sense of 'to flash,' namely, M-W definition 7 in the original post.

It was discussed again today with various suggestions, some of which involve rephrasing slightly or including a longer phrase or sentence:

Siehe auch: mooning, not flashing

Unfortunately, none of the many regulars present were willing to post a comment here. Somehow getting comments in New Entry seems more like pulling teeth than ever (not that it's ever been easy).

This looks to me like one of the many cases where the perfect is the enemy of the good. It would be helpful to get something in the dictionary and not to wait for an ideal 1:1 match.