Welcher Teufel reitet ihn

07:22 Jan 25, 2011 

It appears that I offended some folks. Sorry, that was unintentional. Yes, I only ask or seek to answer questions occasionally, but I'm not sure where to find the "explicit rule" about this that Andrew mentions.
I had tried to write a longer response, but the site seemed to lose it several times. As is so often the case, there was not one "correct" answer. Trudy's answer fit the tone of the rest of the article more closely, as it became quite factual.
So, nachträglich, thanks to all for the help.

16:23 Jan 23, 2011 

Vat are you sinking about? One of our standards here at home, very funny video, Andrew!

15:13 Jan 23, 2011 

15:04 Jan 23, 2011 

When thought takes us away from illumination:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dürer_Melancholia_I.jpg

14:44 Jan 23, 2011 

13:49 Jan 23, 2011 

his name.

12:30 Jan 23, 2011 

Why do you think William Swanson excluded us from his vote of thanks? There are explicit rules on this site, of course, but occasional visitors often fail to appreciate the etiquette. Where so much effort has gone into answering a query, it is always interesting to receive feedback on how the 'most helpful' answer was chosen.

16:47 Jan 22, 2011 

What the bloody hell are they thinking? I've heard this in very snooty circles of British literati, but maybe Scottland is an outpost?

01:10 Jan 21, 2011 

I am also rather surprised by how few answerers have taken on board the asker's request for a UK-ENG variant.

23:50 Jan 18, 2011 

On behalf of everyone here in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, I should just like to say thank you one and all for the gracious gift of your wonderful language. At the same time, I would like to apologise (apologize?) for the way we have adapted it to suit our own local idiosyncrasies. The asker did want to know how this phrase would be best received in our little backwater, but I guess y'all know best.
Cheers
AJS

19:25 Jan 17, 2011 

The past participle form 'gotten' is not used in UK English (get > got > got). Fine for *exclusively* US readership, of course.

See asker's criterion: I'm trying to find an acceptable way to say "Welcher Teufel...." in ***UK English***

So far, we have contributions (and endorsements) from the US, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Honduras. Of course, we are all on the same planet but ...

14:23 Jan 17, 2011 

In my opinion, "What has gotten into these colleagues?" is enough. I wouldn't bring the devil into it in English, as this expression is actually pretty mild in German. For what it's worth, I've just looked it up out of curiosity, and Langenscheidt actually gives that as the standard translation as well.