Asparagus/Spargel

It’s that time of year again, and these little roadside stalls are springing up so that Franconians can have a quick fix of their favourite drug. In this example it’s even combined with a cigarette machine.

You have to be careful when buying uncertified asparagus, though, because there is a rumour that originally green asparagus is imported from other EU countries, the excrescences shaved off with the ubiquitous asparagus peeler, and dyed white.

Lohndumping

I just had to translate Lohndumping into English. Not easy! Someone on leo.org suggests using wage dumping plus a definition. It’s true, sometimes a single term needs a single term (one or two words) rather than a long definition, to work in a text. Apparently Lohnunterbietung is a synonym. So the suggestio would be to write ‘”wage dumping” (forcing the reduction of wages and salaries)’ or something like that.

Here are some people on a Swiss forum getting very angry on the subject:

thanks, I’m intrigued by the term itself though. Why use “dumping”? Isn’t the German language capable of describing this practice?

This is kindergarten stuff…

The term is used in English too, usually in inverted commas with a definition. It does usually apply to bringing in foreign workers.