So very true

[karohemd]

Henning Wehn on English words used in German:

Another classic would be "fixer" which is a heroin user.
These days, English is everywhere, especially in advertising. When you walk down a high street, finding a shop that has a German name (descriptive, rather than proper) is actually difficult.

Comments

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

No mention of Back Shops then? :D

(although I dislike the use of backpack for rucksack, which is, of course, a Germanicism...)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Hahaha.

Well, there are loads of English words with German roots.

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

In fairness, the English are the first to abuse their own languages (and those of others) in the name of advertising; I can't bring myself to hold it against the Germans for doing so. I absolutely love "Franglais" terminology - largely because it annoys L'Academie Francaise so much! I can understand how a native German anglophone would find it annoying though.

Incidentally, having only previously encountered Henning Wehn on Radio 4, I had never realised how much he looks like you! You're not related are you? ;-)

[whiskeylover.livejournal.com]

They're not related- it's just that as a result of a genetic breeding experiment in the 30s/40s all Germans look the same these days... ;)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

*nods* I don't mind new emerging terminology being used without being translated as I know myself how difficult it is to find appropriate neologisms but using random English words just because they sound cool annoys me.

The first example he uses, Smoking (for tuxedo) isn't too bad as it's just an abbreviation of "smoking jacket" that has evolved differently.

Now that you mention it, I see it but no, we aren't. ;o) He's from the opposite side of Germany as is his name.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

"Le smoking" is a tuxedo in French, too. Although oddly, in English a smoking jacket is quite different to a tuxedo. (Not that we call it a 'tuxedo' in the UK, it's a 'dinner jacket'. But you know what I mean :-)

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

I will never completely understand evening wear. ;o)
Apparently, the dinner jacket evolved from the smoking jacket when one Prince of Wales wanted a shorter jacket than whatever frock coat/tails was the norm then but was more elegant than a smoking jacket.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Typical royalty, always want something that's not on the menu :-)

[nelladarren.livejournal.com]

What's really "funny" is how I had never heard of this guy and now I meet him on two consecutive days.

Just encountered him yesterday on a David Mitchell radio show and was repulsed by his German minstrel show act.

He doesn't really have much of a point asking English people for the meaning of Denglish vocabulary. How would they. And it's only funny for the English (who are the intended audience) because everything they perceive as "German" apparently is hilarious, especially if it makes Germans look extra-stupid.

What the German language does isn't different from what other languages do: enrich their vocabulary with fancy words that in most cases don't match the native meaning.

In some cases they just end up with an ersatz word - oh, sorry. Some people seem to react with a feeling of angst when other people touch their vocabulary. How dare they.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Yep, I caught him on The Unbelievable Truth, too, and I'm not too fond of his act, either.

[mobbsy.livejournal.com]

Me neither. I saw him live at the Edinburgh fringe a couple of years ago, and wasn't impressed. The act was basically a string of stereotypes of Germans with the punchline at the end of "you all sat there and laughed at a bunch of crude stereotypes of Germans, which makes you ignorant xenophobes, so the joke's on you".