The media has been buzzing in recent days that Vreni's Coiffeur's apostrophe is now officially licensed. But that's only half the story.
Julia Stephen/ch media
How you should write something always creates a lot of excitement.Image: Imagery
For language purists, the idiot apostrophe has been the icing on the cake for decades, used by small event organizers, barbershops and grocery stores to give themselves a personal touch, and it represents the decline of our spelling. is unique.
There's a movement on the internet that suspects the spread of this apostrophe from English is approaching the end of the world, documenting every violation with photos. Political parties and food manufacturers face disaster on a level 12 basis if apostrophes are placed incorrectly on party posters and products.
In the 21st century, you gasp at the sight of gender celebrities, whereas a certain educated class in the 1990s got excited at every misplaced apostrophe – whether it was There are also beautiful German words chopped up, whether on the menu (Reto's mayonnaise) or in the school's letters to parents (Yannick's parents).
You are right, Frieda and the Carl family
Clearly, these language purists were thinking to themselves when last week the Austrian Standard claimed in a note that the German Spelling Committee had allowed this statement on July 1st. With the new rules coming into effect, apostrophes are officially used in proper names, for example in restaurants and institutions like Karl's Kühne Gassenschau or Frida's Coiffeursalon: if enough idiots confidently ignore grammar rules, at some point there will be It will become the social consensus that language is derailed.
Now, the hurricane is turning on the language purists themselves, as the innocuous notes reported by several media outlets later say more about the ignorance of the cultural elite than the many Karls and Fridas that remain unbelievable to this day. For decades, the keepers of the Holy Grail of German orthography have been pardoning their apostrophes.
Because: If you look closely at the reforms of the past few decades, you'll find that the German Spelling Commission allowed the use of apostrophes in proper name structures as early as the mid-1990s. The purpose is to ensure a correct name, which often becomes ambiguous if omitted. For example, Carlo's Tavern, which has been in the rules since 1996, may also belong to Carlos without the apostrophe.
As the Office of the German Spelling Council explained upon request, with the changes to the wording of the rules for 2024, the aim is to clarify this area of application again. The only time the possessive s was banned was between 1901 and 1996. Even at this stage, writers like Thomas Mann ignored the ban – because he liked apostrophes, not because he regularly watched American Netflix series.
In this regard, the events of the past few days should actually be celebrated as a minor revolution: the idiot apostrophe has finally lost his idiot status, thanks to the newspaper duck. Those who spent decades thinking others were idiots are now being left behind. (bzbasel.ch/lyn)
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