I lived in Germany on two occasions and regularly consume German media. English words are all over the German vernacular, to the point that it's really, really annoying.
Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
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Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't know that I have ever seen that in the wild, but probably only because I refuse to accept that it exists.
If you could of seen some of the spelling mistakes I of, you would of run away screaming, and there's nothing else you should of done.
I literally could care less. If people cant handle this alternative way of communicating, thats there problem.
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#83Meanwhile in English we have our own apostrophe catastrophe where it's become commonplace online to add one to a plural.
Or the Americanism of double quotes for emphasis: > Bob's "Big" Bookstore!
Also quite common in Germany. I choose to interpret them as scare quotes implying irony and smile to myself at Bob's "Big" Bookstore and the grocer selling "fresh" fish.
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#84Meanwhile in English we have our own apostrophe catastrophe where it's become commonplace online to add one to a plural.
Or the Americanism of double quotes for emphasis: > Bob's "Big" Bookstore!
I’ve always read those as scare-quotes, like the store is making fun of itself in some self-aware fashion for not being big. I know I am wrong but I would rather be wrong is a slightly funnier and less stupid world.
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#85German is not that easy, either, though. Das/Der/Die is a constant source of frustration. Its never easy to remember.
It is doubly so if your native language is also a gendered one, but with different genders for common objects. It makes a mess in your head.
CZ: ten nůž (masc.) - DE: das Messer (neutr.) - EN: knife
CZ: ten svět (masc.) - DE: die Welt (fem.) - EN: world
CZ: ta žába (fem.) - DE: der Frosch (masc.) - EN: frog
Also, personified Death and rivers seem to be masculine-coded in Germanic languages, and feminine-coded in Slavic ones.
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#86Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#87Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, lists “Eva’s Blumenladen” (Eva’s Flower Shop) and “Peter’s Taverne” (Peter’s Tavern) as usable alternatives, though “Eva’s Brille” (“Eva’s glasses”) remains incorrect. Why is 'Eva's Brille incorrect', but 'Eva's Blumenladen' ok?
The former are names of businesses, the latter is just referring to someone's personal item.
(This confused the heck out of me at first too.)
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#88Just wait until they get ahold of the quotation marks: https://www.reddit.com/r/suspiciousquotes/
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#89Having French as mother tongue, I always find fascinating when the French and German official bodies go postal about such a topic. It’s like looking some parents complaining of the retro-influence of some common bastard children. :P Now, there are languages for which Globish can be part of an existential threat, but German and French are nowhere close to this. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lists_of_endangered_lan…
English being an amalgamated language and thus uniquely flexible is part of its power. We have options in style choices many languages formally don’t permit, e.g. when to italicise or, if quoting, whether to “exclude punctuation”, or “include it.” (As well as comma use.)
As a fellow French speaker, I think these are strengths other languages could gain from. Couriel or email (or e-mail)? Speaker’s choice. Same for possession. (Particularly for a culture with a tradition of individual liberty like France.)
Re: Germans decry influence of English as 'idiot's apostrophe' gets approval
#90What they need is learn from Canada and have a language police. Go around and fine business that don't follow the rules of German properly.
You can bet old German ladies already point out people's mistakes.