Senioren Union: Aufruf zur Unterschriften Aktion gegen sinnlose Anglizismen.
Abnu of Wordlab (see also earlier entry) drew my attention in an email to a Deutsche Welle article in English on Denglish.
Apparently February 21st, a week ago, was International Mother Language Day. The article suggests more German is beginning to be used in advertisements in Germany – for instance, McDonalds has replaced the slogan ‘Every time a good time’ by ‘Ich liebe es’ (I love it, or, according to Deutsche Welle, I’m lovin’ it – well, OK, that’s the original US verb form, but it doesn’t really go into German, at least not as Ich liebe es).
It also recounts the study that found how poorly many Germans understand English slogans. I mentioned it briefly earlier and PapaScott had a fuller report. But this is the first report in English I remember seeing – there must have been others, though. And the article gives a number of other examples of Denglish.
There’s a group of older people in Nuremberg who are campaigning against the use of so much English in German, by shops, authorities and churches (Ticket-Office im Basement, Bratwurst Point, Feel-Good und Come-In Gottesdienst).
Thanks, abnu (I’m not sure you’d get away with that name in Germany…)
The Wordlab site has a link to an interesting article (with photo) on a new lavatory, an art object, in London, designed for tourists not wanting to miss any sightseeing time – it has one-way mirrored walls.
LATER NOTE: I see that Wordspy has an entry on Denglish. The earliest usage it found in English was in 1998.
bq. Example Citation:
“Many billboards have slogans in ‘Denglish’ a mix of English and German. Ad posters for sleeveless jumpers call them ‘tanktops’. And Berlin’s roadsweepers are promoted under the slogan ‘We Kehr For You’ kehr means to sweep.”
Michael Lea, “Germans throw in towel and start talking English,” The Sun, April 7, 2000