Small Town Boy
04.Nov.2009 10:42 hrs
I've noticed that Germans like abbreviating strings of words into individual letters, in order to thoroughly confuse the reader and complicate comprehension. Presumably the ultimate intention of the writer is to make themselves look highly intelligent. Needless to say, these abbreviations never appear in any dictionary.
This thread can be used to post examples of such abbreviations. Other users can then provide entertainment by suggesting possible solutions.
My two examples from today alone (both from completely different people, despite the common theme) are as follows:
Korrigiert werden müsste v.a. die Einleitung und die restlichen Seiten
Die Einleitung ist a.m.S. ok
Any clues?
Krieg
04.Nov.2009 10:47 hrs
http://abkuerzungen.woxikon.de/abkuerzung/ams.php
Edit: None apply
Gen
04.Nov.2009 10:48 hrs
[spoiler]vor allem
aus meiner Sicht[/spoiler]
Both unnecessary anyhow.
sarabyrd
04.Nov.2009 10:48 hrs
v.a. - vor allem: a very common abb
a.m.S. - aus meiner Sicht: IMO ott and someone making himself look more busy and important than he is
Small Town Boy
04.Nov.2009 10:58 hrs
Alright, thanks for the answers. Definitely both superfluous, especially the "vor allem".
HEM
04.Nov.2009 11:54 hrs
Ever watched a newsreel from the former DDR? They really went to town on (spoken) abbreviations, far worse than here & now....
Expaticus
04.Nov.2009 12:29 hrs
English is a lot easier on this. IRS, FBI, CIA, MoD, FSA.
The prevalence of compound words clearly make this tougher in German. Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien becomes KGaA instead of KaA. Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht becomes BaFin (which always sounds like "barfin'") instead of BfF. Beziehungsweise is the one that gets always me; bzw instead of bw. Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland becomes ARD, so Die Gebühreneinzugszentrale der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland should be GRD, right? No, it's GEZ. Then there's St. Vo, the patron saint of traffic offenders (Straßenverkehrsordnung); why isn't it SVO?
Has anyone else noticed the tendency to give cutsey, sing-songy "nicknames"" to things with long toungue-twisters, but that the cutesier the acronym/contraction, the worse the thing actually is (Kripo, Stasi, Nazi), whereas fun stuff like swimming naked and bras become the grim-sounding FKK and BH.
UnderDog
04.Nov.2009 15:46 hrs
There's Schubi (Schubkarren) and Hubi (Hubschrauber) which are a bit ridiculous
Tibia
04.Nov.2009 15:53 hrs
the tendency to give cutsey, sing-songy "nicknames"" to things with long toungue-twisters, but that the cutesier the acronym/contraction, the worse the thing actually is (Kripo, Stasi, Nazi), whereas fun stuff like swimming naked and bras become the grim-sounding FKK and BH.
Top observation!
I offer you Stuka as well, i was collecting them for a while but right now i cant think of any other.
Holsteiner
05.Nov.2009 08:35 hrs
My favourite is "Mifrifi" for "Mittelfristige Finanzplanung".
You decide if that is a good or a bad thing.
Tibia
05.Nov.2009 10:15 hrs
And KaDeWe in Berlin. When it was celebrating its 100th birthday, it got a mention on the BBC news where they called it Cader Wee.
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