Category Archives: Language

Discogs Fan Mail: 2016 to 2018

Adding and updating information in Discogs is an interactive process. Edits are subject to “peer review”. Most users are grateful for the guidance, learn from their mistakes, and go on to use and enjoy Discogs in whatever way they do. Occasionally you, as a voter, even receive a thank-you message from a fellow user. This article is not about those users. Continue reading

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Verbal Abuse

While the ruthless encroachment of the English language (particularly into the German media and advertising sectors) continues unabatedly, there is some positive news to report. That’s what happens when two languages combine and create a Frankenpidgin monstrosity named Denglish. Continue reading

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Marketing FAIL: Du darfst

A couple of weeks ago I was stuck behind the TV when programming was interrupted by the usual barrage of messages from their sponsors. And suddenly, amongst all the noise, a female voice proudly proclaimed in her German accent, “Fuck the diet!” Continue reading

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Words, words, words

“Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.” Continue reading

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Motivation

It’s the routine of caffeine and nicotine that make the monotony of each day bearable as we look forward to the monthly paycheck and the great gig in the sky after the final dinner with the worms. And greed. Greed’s a great motivator. Greed makes hungry. Continue reading

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Results of the latest poll

“Blog, netiquette, cookie and wiki have been voted among the most irritating words spawned by the Internet, according to the results of a poll.” Continue reading

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The bare necessities: Teddy vs. Bruno

Of hugely entertaining value to an English speaker living in Germany is the recent insistence by locals to spice up their vocabulary with modern English words and phrases — as if no equivalent or suitable German words were available! Advertising agencies and the media are particularly guilty of this malpractice. Continue reading

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Confirming an urban legend

No, this is not a hoax nor an urban legend — there really is a place called “Fucking”. Continue reading

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