Deppen Leer Zeichen

In an earlier blog, Red Baron compared the English grocer's apostrophe with the German Deppenapostroph (goof's apostrophe). Last week I read about another disfigurement of my language: the Deppenleerzeichen (goof's blank space) or, as those goofs would instead write, Deppen Leer Zeichen. What happened?

Even Der Spiegel titles Windmühlen Wahn instead of
 Windnühlenwahn (windmill mania) (©Der Spiegel)

As you know, German words can be long. Some German words are so long that they have a perspective as Mark Twain, a special friend of the German language, once wrote. However, what many foreigners consider an ordeal is a fantastic tool for creating new words. I already mentioned Martin Luther, who had - when translating the Bible into German - invented new German words by combining two existing words, e.g., Schandfleck (spot of shame) for blemish, Gewissensbiss (biting of the conscience) for remorse, Lockvogel (luring bird) for bait, and Landpfleger (caretaker of the country) for governor.

Modern authors invent new words too. Sascha Lobo once proposed: Affärmann is the male part in an affair playing on the resemblance with Fährmann (ferryman). Unterlastung is contrary to Überlastung (overload or overstrain). 

The neologism verversprechen plays on the German double meaning of versprechen, signifying either to promise or to suffer from a slip of the tongue. Therefore the new word means that a politician's promise before an election was just a slip of the tongue.

What recently happened in my country makes me go up the walls. More and more existing word combinations are separated by Deppenleerzeichen. So in a DIY store, you no longer find Gartenhandschuhe (gardening gloves) but rather Garten Handschuhe, although admittedly, Garten Hand Schuhe has still to be seen. 

Looking around further, I read Gieß Kanne instead of Gießkanne (watering can, more literally pouring jug) and Grab Erde for Graberde (plant nutrient soil to spill on a grave), where Grab Erde instead is an imperative: Dig the dirt! 

Other examples are Curry Wurst instead of correctly Currywurst, Hotel Ausfahrt for Hotelausfahrt (hotel exit), and Kissen Schlachten for Kissenschlachten (pillow fights). In the last example, a misunderstanding is likely, for when Kissenschlachten is written with a Deppenleerzeichen, you may interpret the combination as killing pillows.

I love killing pillows (©Doppelleerzeichen)

Even combinations of Deppenapostroph and Deppenleerzeichen become possible when the delicious Martinsgans (St. Martin's goose) is fragmented into: ©Doppelleerzeichen Below there is another more extreme example where it should read: Qualitätstierprodukte (quality products for animals) and www.Hundeleinen-Shop.de (shop for dog leash):

My English grammar of 1948

©Doppelleerzeichen

Some people argue that the Deppenapostroph was invented for graphical reasons or just to catch the eye of a potential customer. Others say that we imported the separation of words from the States, where they struggle with combinations like a shoe store, grocery store, candy store, but bookstore and drugstore. 

There is a battleship and battle cruiser, postcard and post office, and backache and stomach ache. Seventy years ago, my English teacher told me there is a tendency in English to write word combinations in one word (is the trend still observed?). In contrast, in Germany, the opposite becomes a reality.

In German, the basic rule is simple: Write all composed words in one word. Since 2006, the possibility exists in German to use a hyphen in words like Biogemüse (organic vegetables). Writing Bio-Gemüse makes the combination easily readable. The same is true for Kaffee-Ersatz instead of Kaffeeersatz (coffee substitute) and even more so for Rohrohrzucker. In fact, this word could be misread as a meaningless "tube ear sugar" while "raw cane sugar" is meant. So a hyphen is essential: Roh-Rohrzucker. 

Hyphens are now standard for those long German words where even native speakers frequently stumble. The word Telefonhöreranschlusskabel (telephone receiver connecting cable) is easier read as Telefonhörer-Anschlusskabel, but nobody taught us to separate long words by Deppenleerzeichen.

Once having a coffee at a Steh Café, one of Germany's linguistic mentors, Bastian Sick, became so frustrated that he proposed to allow "do what you like" spellings, for what is correctly spelled Stehcafé* (a café where you take your coffee in an upright position) in the next edition of Der Duden, Germany's Webster.
*Red Baron likes to savor his coffee seated and takes a coffee in an upright position only at an Italian coffee bar for an espresso - although not spelled expresso - must be consumed hot, very hot, and therefore fast.

There is another mistake in the photo. It should read:
Tasse Kaffee (cup of coffee) instead of Tassekaffee.
Did they remove the blank there to reuse it in Steh Café? (©Bastian Sick)

*