Trumpet Language

Trompetensprache is a New German word that one of my favorite columnists, Florian Harms, propagated. According to him, we use this language when something changes our everyday life in an uncommon way.

Yesterday, Monday, was a highlight of the trumpet language. The onset of winter was hyped up as a "snow catastrophe," having the whole of Germany "firmly in its grip."

The whole of Germany? Looking from my balcony into our small park.

Germany was again divided, but not into East and West. 

This time the weather cut the country into North and South. A cold front from the Pole met warm dust from the Sahara over Germany, causing heavy precipitation as freezing rain or snow.

Looking like nickel-and-dime stuff
to my blizzard-accustomed friends in New York and Wisconsin

The trumpet sounded on. "Cities sank deeply into the snow," mutated in some places even to the "blood snow." The "cold claws" were invented, and the "crisp-cold winter."

There was "chaos on the highways," "chaos in train traffic," and possibly also chaos in the heads of some reporters when they headlined "Snow! Snow! Snow!" followed by a disappointing trumpeting "... so far only fender benders and car body damage."

Given the media excitement surrounding the weather, one might think we were the first bipeds to have a few flakes fall on our heads. Wasn't there such a thing as snow ten, twenty, or thirty years ago? As one experienced journalist said, "We should report in detail on the weather situation, but keep our language moderate. "

"Grandpa, were there past weather disasters with snow and ice and icy roads? "
 "We called it winter. "©Mario Lars

Note: A trumpet is most beautiful when it falls silent.

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