Long words

I’ve had a couple of lazy days with time to open my books and try to learn more German. I have even done my homework for Frau Fox. I dipped into the book I travel with, my copy of der Freitag and smile time with a satirical magazine called Eulenspiegel.

In all cases I stumbled over looooooooong words! I think this must be why German has never made it as a world language. You think I jest? Try this report taken from Spiegel Online. The government of  Macklenburg-Vorpommern has decided to remove a law and hence the name of the law will no longer be used.

What is/was it? Das Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz. It only has 63 letters! There are lots of such things and the story says most are creatures of lawyers working in politics or for government. There is one even better:-

Das Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetzesentwurfsdebattierklub-
diskussionsstandsberichterstattungsgeldantragsformular.  Great isn’t it? Next time I go shopping I shall ask for one:-)

English has a monster as well. The Oxford English Dictionary says it is the longest English word with 45 letters. Try this – pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It from medicine and refers to a lung disease. The German word is much shorter – die Quarzstaublunge.

Back to my books. Happy reading:-)