The so-called "Deppenapostroph" (idiot's apostrophe) is another sign of the decrease in German-language competence — and another thing blamed on English and/or Denglisch. German does normally use apostrophes (a Greek word) in some situations, but not in the way some misguided German-speakers do so today.
Adopting the Anglo-Saxon use of apostrophes in the possessive, some Germans now add it to German genitive forms where it should not appear. Today, walking down the street of any German town, one can see business signs announcing "Andrea's Haar- und Nagelsalon" or "Karl's Schnellimbiss." The correct German possessive is "Andreas" or "Karls" - no apostrophe. (See "Suse's" photo on right.)
An even worse violation of German spelling is using an apostrophe in s-plurals: "Auto's," "Handy's," or "Trikot's."
Although the use of the apostrophe for the possessive was common in the 1800s, it has not been used in modern German. But the 2006 edition of Duden's "official" reformed spelling reference allows the use of the apostrophe (or not) with names in the possessive, provoking much vigorous discussion. Some observers have labeled the new outbreak of "Apostrophitis" the "McDonald's effect," alluding to the use of the possessive apostrophe in the McDonald's brand name.
Translation Problems
Denglisch also presents special problems for translators. A translator of German legal documents into English struggled for the right words until she came up with "case Management" for the Denglisch phrase "technisches Handling." German business publications often use English legal and commercial jargon for concepts like "due diligence," "equity partner," and "risk management." Even some well-known German newspapers and online news sites (besides calling die Nachrichten the "news") have been tripped up by Denglisch. The respected Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) incorrectly used the incomprehensible Denglisch term "Nonproliferationsvertrag" for a story on the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which in good German has long been rendered as der Atomwaffensperrvertrag. German TV reporters based in Washington, D.C. often use the Denglisch term "Bush-Administration" for what is correctly called die Bush-Regierung in German news accounts. They are part of a disturbing trend in German news reporting that, in a German news Web search, pulls up over 100 results for "Bush-Administration" versus over 300 for the better-German "Bush-Regierung."
Microsoft has been criticized for its use of anglicisms or Americanisms in its German-language publications and software support manuals. Many Germans blame the vast U.S. firm's influence for computer terms such as "downloaden" and "uploaden" instead of normal German "laden" and "hochladen." But no one can blame Microsoft for other forms of deformed Denglisch vocabulary that is an insult to both Deutsch and English. Two of the worst examples are "Bodybag" (for a shoulder backback) and "Moonshine-Tarif" (discounted telephone night rate). Such lexical miscreations have drawn the wrath of the Verein Deutsche Sprache e.V. (VDS, the German Language Association), which created a special award for the guilty parties.
Each year since 1997 the VDS prize for Sprachpanscher des Jahres ("language diluter of the year") has gone to a person the association considers that year's worst offender. The very first award went to the German fashion designer Jil Sander, who is still notorious for mixing German and English in bizarre ways. The 2006 award went to Günther Oettinger, Ministerpräsident (governor) of the German state (Bundesland) of Baden-Württemberg. During a TV broadcast entitled "Wer rettet die deutsche Sprache" ("Who will save the German language?") Oettinger declared: "Englisch wird die Arbeitssprache, Deutsch bleibt die Sprache der Familie und der Freizeit, die Sprache, in der man Privates liest." ("English is becoming the work language. German remains the language of family and leisure time, the language in which you read private things.") An irritated VDS issued a statement explaining why it had chosen Herr Oettinger for its award: "Damit degradiert er die deutsche Sprache zu einem reinen Feierabenddialekt." ("He thus demotes the German language to a mere dialect for use when one is not at work.") The runner-up was Jörg von Fürstenwerth, whose insurance association promoted the "Drug Scouts" to help get German youths off of drugs with slogans like "Don't drug and drive."
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