THE TELEGRAPH: German language experts have launched a campaign against the hybrid "Denglish" which they claim is polluting culture through its growing use in advertising and television.
The advocacy groups are intensifying their fight against the use of a hybrid of the two languages, which has begun to encroach on everyday parlance.
As part of the campaign, the German Language Foundation called on Germans to find an alternative for the English term "fast food". The result was "Ruckizuckifutti"*.
"We don't want to be language purists, but we want people to be aware of how they speak and that certain linguistic imports just don't fit into German," said Cornelius Sommer, a former German ambassador and one of the leaders of the campaign.
Another advocacy group, the German Language Club, has called on telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom to stop using terms like "Blackberry Webmail" and criticised national rail operator Deutsche Bahn for similar misnomers.
They face an uphill battle in Germany, where English is widely spoken and English expressions and Anglicisms are common. >>> | Tuesday, July 27, 2010
*Who on earth thought up this ridiculous word? It would be easy to come up with something better than this. What about Schnellimbiß or Schnellessen? Those would do the trick. At least they trump “Ruckizuckifutti”! What kind of nonsense is that? – Mark
