Glorious word to describe just about every iOS update ever.
The Matrix was right. Civilization peaked at Skeumorphism. Pure unfiltered soul.
Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
101–110 of 123 posts
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#102What about "worseprovement"
How about "bloat". Something that doesn't need to be there, and it would be better if it wasn't, but it was typically added with some misguided "good intentions". Bloat.
This also applies to changing something. If it was perfect, and you changed it, and now it's not perfect anymore, then the work itself didn't need to happen, and was therefore bloat.
Most work is bloat. But we have tied continued existence to work (mostly -- we mistake work for value), so we've made infinite bloating appear mandatory.
As an aside, most of the human psychology (assumptions, beliefs etc.) is also bloat, and similarly benefits from debloating.
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#103Love it. The German language has words for almost anything; especially if it’s cynical.
I’m told that’s because the language is designed to synthesize words. I wouldn’t know. I don’t speak German (but I speak English, which has German roots).
I once looked at an etymology diagram, and was surprised to see Low German is the root for a whole shitton of modern languages. I think that may be because it was a trade language.
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#104Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't the English word more or less "regression"? If you want to coin a new word, how about updowngrade?
It's close enough and has been already in use. A regression of features quality - for example. There's no reason to coin a new term at all, nor chasing this idea of using long German word as a replacement.
It works, but regression is broader. If I'm not mistaken, a regression can also happen without human intervention. Verschlimmbesserung is active. Someone actually tried something and made it worse.
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#105Value is now only _extracted_. Place the acquired good into the press and smash it until all but the faintest essence remains among the mash. The squeezings are bottled and saved to pay for future _extractions_. Companies like Valve can continue largely unshittificated because they are private. Once that is no longer the case, all our game rentals will be squozen away from us.
TIL squozen is the past participle of squeeze, but only because I first thought hah this guy is making words up. Foiled again!
It is not, it is "squeezed". This is not an irregular verb.
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#106In the age of LLMs it is important to have vocabulary that survives when taken out of context - German nouns fit that very well. In my own project I decided to use phrases of two words (often with a hyphen) for all technical terms (terms that have special meaning in my project).
And by the way I also started using Auftragstaktik as an anchor for a methodology of writing plans and prompts.
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#107It's not even funny how often that word sounds in my head these days
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#108What about "worseprovement"
As a German, I might not have thought of that but would absolutely use it to translate Verschlimmbesserung. Does it sound "normal" enough to native English speakers?
It doesn't sound normal. "worse-" doesn't fit as a replacement for the "im-" prefix, because the "se" ending doesn't flow well into the plosive "prov".
"disimprove" works much better.
The similar word "unimproved" implies you did nothing to make it better, "disimproved" implies you actively made it worse.
But this is still just effectively adding "not" to the word. If you must join two words that are the antonyms of each other (like verbessern and verschlimmern), the closest match I can think of is the vulgar pun "fuxed", a blend of "fixed" (repaired) and "fucked" (broke). https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fuxed
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#109What about "worseprovement"
“wrongbetterment”
Re: Verschlimmbesserung: The Word Your Software Updates Need
#110German here. A "Verschlimmbesserung" is something that makes one part better and another part worse. If it only makes things worse you don't need a German word for it, you can just call it worse. For things that were intended good, but ended up bad, there's an English idiom: the path to hell is paved with good intentions.
Not a German but Duden disagrees with you [0]: "etwas in der Absicht, es zu verbessern, schlechter machen". [0]: https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/verschlimmbessern
Yes, that's the correct definition.