Tag Archives: Language

Serving Grievances

October 31, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

Now serving language grievance number 731!

“Once you start addressing the third gender, it’s not long until you’re required to address a fourth or fifth and, for me as a lawyer, this gets too complex linguistically.”

Too complex linguistically? It’s too complex mentally already. Leave the German language alone. Please.

Germany debates how to form gender-neutral words out of its gendered language – How do you pronounce a word with an asterisk or a colon in the middle?

“Legal texts are not there to serve such grievances. There are more important issues in this world.”

German Of The Day: Ausladung

October 29, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Hostility, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means disinvitation.

German Academic Freedom Is Now Decided in Beijing – German universities are bowing to China on censorship.

The two German journalists Stefan Aust and Adrian Geiges were disinvited from giving public talks at the German Confucius Institute about their new biography of China’s president, Xi Jinping: The Most Powerful Man in the World. The disinvitation came at the behest of the Chinese consul general in Düsseldorf. Aust told the German newspaper Die Welt that an institute staffer informed the journalists that “you cannot talk about Xi Jinping as a normal person, he is supposed to be untouchable and unmentionable now.”

German Of The Day: Rasanter Anstieg

October 28, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hysteria Tags: , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means rapid rise. But willkürlich would have been a good German of the day, too. That means arbitrary.

Rapid rise as in: OMG! The Corona incidence rate in Germany is now at 130,2 and rising!

Arbitrary as in

COVID: Germany set to end national state of emergency – Despite a rise in infections, the parties set to form a new government want to end the national state of emergency. But Germany should not yet expect a “freedom day.”

This just goes to show you how arbitrarily the panic buttons are pressed during our brave new COVID era. Just a few months ago, the Germans were losing sleep at night because the COVID incidence rate was threatening to rise over 30. Keep enjoying the show!

German Word Of The Day: Cringe

October 25, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Higher Education Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

That means cringe.

OK, it’s the German Youth Word of the Year word of the day. But it still means cringe.

It’s a good word of the year, I find. For this year or any other year, these years.

Wenn Jugendliche etwas peinlich finden, nennen sie das häufig “cringe”. Besonders unter den bis 20-Jährigen ist dieser Begriff laut Langescheidt-Verlag weit verbreitet. Nun wurde er zum Jugendwort des Jahres gewählt.

German Of The Day: Vermasselt

October 11, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hideology, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means botched.

Merkel’s botched succession: how Germany’s leader failed to keep her party in power – Longstanding chancellor accused of neglecting CDU and losing support of party’s rightwing.

The CDU stopped being conservative, or rightwing if you prefer, long ago. And it’s all her doing. It’s called the Merkel Method: She takes the wind out of her opponents’ sails by becoming more Green than the Greens and more Red than the Reds (SPD). The downside, of course, is that by doing so over the years she turned the CDU into them.

German Of The Day: Das Sinkende Schiff Verlassen

October 10, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , 1 Comment

That means to desert the sinking ship.

Angela Merkel’s favorites have begun jumping overboard. After the CDU’s resounding election loss, and Angela Merkel’s lame duck hand no longer there to protect them, it’s time to say goodbye.

Two of outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel’s closest political allies and most senior ministers will quit the German parliament to make way for a new generation that can rejuvenate her conservative party after its election defeat, they said.

The decision of Peter Altmaier, the economy minister, and Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, comes amid growing infighting within the conservative camp after Armin Laschet, another close Merkel ally, led it to defeat last month.

“The CDU must get itself in shape for the future. Peter Altmaier and I want to contribute to this by standing down from the Bundestag.”

German Of The Day: Zitrus-Koalition

September 29, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Helections, Hideology Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means “citrus coalition.” The Greens have green as their party color (what a surprise) and the FDP has yellow.

Germany’s Kingmakers – Difficult Talks Ahead for Greens and Free Democrats – The Green Party and the business-friendly Free Democrats plan to hold exploratory talks with each other before meeting with the main chancellor candidates in the coming days. They appear to be worlds apart but are already finding some common ground…

FDP leader Christian Lindner also continued Monday with the message he initiated on election night: measured praise for the potential coalition partner. The Union (CDU/CSU) and the Social Democrats (SPD) are not parties of change, he said. In talks between his party and the Greens, it would therefore be necessary to examine “whether, despite all the differences, this could become the progressive center of a new coalition government,” even if that seems like a bit of a stretch.

German Of The Day: Königmacher

September 28, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections Tags: , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means kingmaker.

You know, as in Germany’s FDP party (classic liberal, business-friendly)? They will most likely decide what kind of coaltion Germany will now get. Either SPD-Green-FDP or CDU-Green-FDP. Unless, of course, negotiations fail and they go back to another grand goalition of CDU-SPD, which absolutely nobody wants.

Germany’s FDP holds strong cards in post-election haggling – Buoyant from its best election result in 10 years, Germany’s liberal FDP party looks set to play a outsized role in coalition negotiations to form the next government…

The FDP wants to avoid tax increases and preserve Germany’s cherished debt brake, while the SPD and the Greens want to raise the minimum wage, increase taxes for the wealthy and and invest public money in tackling climate change.

“The coalition issue is extremely difficult for the FDP. Its members do not want the FDP to be propping up a left-wing government,” said political scientist Oskar Niedermeyer of the Free University of Berlin.

German Of The Day: Fünfprozenthürde

September 27, 2021 By in Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helections, Helplessness Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

That means the “five percent hurdle.” A political party has to get at least five percent of the votes in order to get seats in the German Bundestag.

The Left Party (communists pretending not to be communists) received only 4.9 percent in yesterday’s election so they’re out. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer party. Don’t let the door hit you and all that.

So, with them gone, the local Berlin vote to pass the non-binding referendum to expropriate real estate companies (already deemed illegal by Germany’s highest court) takes on an even more fantastic touch.

Germany: Berlin locals vote to expropriate real estate giants – Berliners cast their referendum votes on whether to nationalize thousands of housing units owned by real estate giants. After counting 27% of the votes, results found that over half voted yes while just 39% voted no.

Most Germans Find Religion Unimportant

September 24, 2021 By in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hurt Feelings Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

A survey says. Most Germans also find that they are miserable and without purpose or direction and in desperate search of some Ersatzreligion (substitute religion – see apocalyptic environmentalism and climate activism), my observation says. But maybe that’s just me.

Most Germans find religion unimportant, survey shows – A significant majority of Germans say religion plays no role in their life, a poll has shown. Fewer than one in eight adults believe that faith makes the world a fairer place, although younger people were more positive.