And The German Wort Of The Year Is ....

Bertel Schmitt
by Bertel Schmitt

Each year, the „Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache“ (association for the German language) selects its word of the year. This year, the German WOTY is, you guessed it …



Abwrackprämie.

It did beat “kriegsähnliche Zustände” (warlike conditions – in Afghanistan) and „Schweinegrippe“ (pigflu). 2008, the German word of the year was „Finanzkrise“ (financial crisis.) This as per the report in Das Autohaus. [sub]

In the U.S. the WOTY according to Websters, is “distracted driving.” Clunker didn’t even make the shortlist. The New York Times tried to push it, but came too late.

Bertel Schmitt
Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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  • Bertel Schmitt Bertel Schmitt on Dec 21, 2009

    Actually, Abwrackprämie comes from an old program where owners of ships were paid money for wrecking them and taking them out of circulation. The German c4c program was originally greenwashed as "Umweltprämie" (environment bonus) but its detractors gave it the Abrwrackprämien monicker, and it stuck

  • PeteMoran PeteMoran on Dec 21, 2009

    I would have thought it was going to be "unfriend" like every other country (except maybe in Iran, North Korea) where they don't have the Social Notworking sites.

  • Oosh Oosh on Dec 21, 2009

    With English lacking the German penchant for merging words in to one did Websters not pickup their word of the year is actually two? Edit: Oh and any German wort of the year better adhere to another wonderful word of theirs: Reinheitsgebot.

  • Threeer Threeer on Dec 22, 2009

    Oh, man...in that pile of cars I see three of variants of what I've owned in the past...a BMW 1600/2002 , Audi 100/5000 and the Mitsubishi Celeste (nee Plymouth Arrow in the States)...kind of sad...

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