So, here in Germany there is A LOT of English used within the German language itself. One thing that REALLY gets me, is when they take an English word and bastardize its meaning. For example, a couple years ago, Emily and I were here and saw a sign for an "Electronics Gang Bang". Now, while this is a big meeting of the people who like the musical genre of Electronics, the word "Gang Bang" is what really gets me. From what I understand, the word gang bang is when a female wants to be initiated into a gang. Basically all of the men of the gang line up to rape this woman. Not a very good word. But here in Germany, it is used to mean group sex, as well as in the sense above, a meeting. I find this absolutely awful.
Yet another example came today when I was reading a magazine about the happenings around Weiden. A DJ decided to take the name "DJ Slutshaker". Seriously, WTF??? I am pretty sure that he took this name just because he thought it "cool" (another English word used often). But seriously, Slutshaker? When I hear this as the name of a DJ, I automatically think of a strip club.
However, this also brings up a much bigger debate, the "Englishifying of the German Language". There have been a few reports I've seen on TV about this, and they are really interesting. There is a huge surge, espeically in the younger generations, of using more and more English words in their everyday language.
What is REALLY annoying to me is when people beign to blame the Americans and the English for this. Oh no sir, in my opinion it is not the English speaker's fault. It is that of the Germans. They want to sound cool, and right now the English language is "total in", so they bring over words they hear, no matter the meaning and give them new meaning. This is not to say that the Germans bastardize every English word brought over into their language. No, not at all. They use the word "sale" correctly. In my opinion if many Germans are against this, then they should try creating a law limitizing the influence of the English language. In France, they have this law where most of the songs on the radio are French. They limit the ammount of foreign language songs played on the radio. Here, just about every song is sung in English.
However, I really just wanted to talk about DJ Slutshaker and his awful name.
UPDATE: Ok, so since the original DJ Slutshaker contacted me, he isn't an awful guy. Just a DJ with a catchy name...Maybe I'll become a DJ (yea right!) in the US and call myself DJ Schlampenschlepper...I think that would be funny! But first, I would definitely have to work on my DJing skillz which are basically non-existent...so I'll just leave that to the pros, such as DJ Slutshaker. ;)
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I agree! It's the germans fault, they're stupid for changing their language, german nowadays is totally different to a couple decades ago, it's so sad.
ReplyDelete-Chantal
I wouldn't go so far as to call Germans stupid. I believe that they're just being too influenced by the English language, especially in the younger generations. I know when I chat with my in-laws they don't know some of the words that come up on commercials or in the newspapers.
ReplyDeleteBut when I wrote this post, I was pretty much annoyed with the improper use of English within the German language. It is still annoying, but hopefully, something will be done about it.
Hello Jentry,
ReplyDeletei am really interested in which magazine or board you heard about my awful name? By the way, it is an old nickname for a mercedes-benz-car called 'schlampenschuettler' oder 'schlampenschlepper' in german, not a totally-in-word of some wannabe-gangsta. And also it is a provocative name for sure - and that is good for my kinda business - or did you write about DJ Max oder DJ Tom ;)
Greets from bavarian native speaking DJ Slutshaker (which never wanted to degrade woman by his name)
Hello there DJ Slutshaker :)
ReplyDeleteSorry. I didn't really want to offend you. I am sorry about that. I know that in your line of business, you want a provocative name and by god, you definitely have one! I looked up the schlampenschlepper on urban dictionary and sure enough, there it was...a German pimp-mobile. It definitely makes sense now. I was just trying to make the point that there is a bunch of English in German and that certain words have lost their original meaning, such as "gang-bang". Plus, I think on this day (I was about 6 weeks pregnant at this point and hormones were raging) I believe someone blamed me for English infiltrating the German language and that just pissed me off. Then, I was reading Die Neue Tag or the OWZ or the Rundschau or something and happened across your name. I live in Weiden (Hammerweg area). This is how I came across your name.
Sorry about wrongly stereotyping you. I hate it when people do that to me simply because I am a Texan in Bavaria. Maybe my husband and I will come out to your next show to say "Hi". :)
Yippi-a-o Texanic Girl ;)
ReplyDeleteI've read your re-post and wooord: if you gonna be DJane Schlampenschlepper you will get a sure booking from me :)
By the way it's very interesting to hear about your problems watching your native language beeing assimilated for neologistic phrases. I am also wondering about where the speaking-culture of the younger generation is going to, i think in 50 years there will be an amerigermafrenchhispanic language as a world-language. For me as a native german speaker it is fascinating to spot old words like 'paraplui' for umbrella or 'trottoir' for sidewalk. There had been german words for this, but these words made their way into the common language and are accepted as normal. And one thing is for sure: your language is much cooler than german, and so even i will adapt it in mixture with german for more coolness ;)
Best wishes to you and your family
P.S.: For i am no longer an everywhere-party-dj i changed my name into several psyeudonym for spreading my own music - like the one in my URL in this post.