Das Wort 'Shitstorm' hat nun einen Platz im Duden

[Dave (imported)]

>>The Internet strikes again!

>>And this time it ain't Shadenfreude

>>And as we all know Shadenfreude is -- in Danish and Norwegian as skadefryd, in Swedish as skadeglädje, in Finnish as vahingonilo, in Dutch as leedvermaak and in Ukrainian, Russian and Bulgarian as 'злорадство' (zlo'radstvo)

>>

>>

>>A shitstorm in a huge cloud of chaos whipping around in a frenzy, and not a cloud of brown fecal matter spinning like a top and stinking and flecking the wall

>>... Perhaps we can get that translated into Swahili ?

>>

The German Dictionary Has A New Fun Word

Jason Linkins | July 5, 2013 3:46 PM ET

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/0 ... -the-press

In some of the best possible news for Germany, that nation's daily newspaper, Die Welt, reports, "Das Wort 'Shitstorm' hat nun einen Platz im Duden." Congratulations to the German people!

What that semi-Teutonic headline describes, in essence, is that the German language lexicon, Duden -- roughly the equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary for the German language -- has welcomed the Anglicism "shitstorm" into its pages, a little over a year after a group of German language experts declared the term to be "the top English contribution to the German language" of 2011:

The "Anglicism of the Year" jury defined Shitstorm as a public outcry, primarily on the internet, in which arguments mix with threats and insults to reach a critical mass, forcing a reaction.

"This new kind of protest is clearly different in kind and degree from what could be expected in the past in response to a statement or action," said jury member Michael Mann, who runs a language website called Lexikographieblog.

The jury said in a statement ... "Shitstorm fills a gap in the German vocabulary that has become apparent through changes in the culture of public debate."

As the British tabloid Metro reports this week, the Germans have, very poetically, opted to restrict the definition of shitstorm to something modern and metaphorical: "In German [shitstorm] has a slightly different meaning and has come to define a controversy on the internet rather than the general calamity it is in English." When referring to the "general calamity" that is a literal storm of actual shit, Germans will probably just continue to use "Ein buchstäblicher Scheißesturm."

"Shitstorm" really gained its cultural prominence in Germany thanks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who enjoys deploying the term in reference to the ongoing Eurozone economic crisis. There is apparently also some sort of dominant notion that the Germans are somehow idiosyncratic in their obsession "with pooping, farting and bottoms," but the Guardian's Philip Oltermann has a delightful debunking of this idea, pegged to the news of this seminal event in German linguistics.

At any rate, I hope the German people come to enjoy this word as much as the rest of us.

With thanks to Huffington Post Senior Social Media Editor Kerstin Shamberg for various German translations.

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Considering the internet, through endless jokes, memes, youtube vids and Funny or Die skits, would have us believe that Germans are the source of most toilet/shit porn (in the same way the 'net would have us believe all Japanese are into teen tentacle porn), "Shitstorm" seems an appropriate new addition to their linguistic lexicon.

As one old German on a colony where I buy honey once said, and I'm paraphrasing because I can't remember the exact words, "Du machen die sheize, du essen die sheize". See? Even Old Colony Mennos from Friesenheim have a poop obsession!

Hey, I'M German.... shit. <--- Doh !!

[nosexatall (imported)]

Let's say it in a more ancient language:

O tempora

O mores

[StefanIsMe (imported)]

Let's say it in a more ancient language:

O tempora

O mores

You mean 1980's Rough Trade* songs are already ancient !!!?!?!??

* Carol Pope and Kevin Staples? She of Mile-high shoulder pads? Anyway, O tempora, O mores was one of their songs...

[janekane (imported)]

... sondern, in einem Wörterbuch?

[janekane (imported)]

Also, google translate translated the German word, "Duden" as "Google" in English, when I tried that a few moments ago...

[nosexatall (imported)]

You mean 1980's Rough Trade* songs are already ancient !!!?!?!??

* Carol Pope and Kevin Staples? She of Mile-high shoulder pads? Anyway, O tempora, O mores was one of their songs...

Oh, that idiom is quite a little bit older than out of the 1980th.

Around 2.000 years, I believe.

I learned that idiom at school.

A long time before that song appeared.

I allready learned it in the 1960th.

By the way, you cann't translate 'Duden' into a foreign language.

Because it's a name.

Even you might find an exploration of the expression or idiom 'Duden' mainly is used how to spell a word.

[Dave (imported)]

Wikipedia says this:

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duden

Der Duden ist ein Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, das erstmals am 7. Juli 1880 von Konrad Duden veröffentlicht wurde und ursprünglich nur ein orthographisches Wörterbuch war. Der Duden erscheint als Buch und in elektronischen Formaten im Verlag Bibliographisches Institut GmbH (BI).

Whoch mostly says:

The Duden is a dictionary of the German language, the first time on 7 Was published in July 1880 by Konrad Duden and originally was only an orthographic dictionary. The Duden published as a book and in electronic formats in Bibliographisches Institut GmbH (BI).

So it is sort of, similar, or like -- the Oxford English Dictionary for the English Language.

English is not a codified language. In the USA English is quite a flexible and easily modified language.

German is much stricter than English as to additional words.

French is very strict about what may be properly used as a word in French.

Latin is totally fixed because it's a dead language. Latin doesn't grow as a language.

[~Tiamat~ (imported)]

I loved the BBC article, where they attempted to report on it without saying the word "shit". Completely redundant since all the external links at the bottom had "shitstorm" in the headline

[Dave (imported)]

When I read stuff like the BBC tries to pull I turn into a little boy and start chanting shit, shit, shit, all day.

Not that I don't have my hangups and obsessive/compulsive behaviors...

but really -- it's all just poo