Germany’s new word disorder
AS A test of Germany's ability to undertake change, the enduring wrangle over language reform is a dispiriting case. The row over just how many consonants can be lined up to make one of those exhausting compound nouns in which German so delights—why talk about coming to terms with the past when the word Vergangenheitsbewältigung will do?—has flared up again thanks to a decision by a leading daily newspaper, the austere Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), to ditch the grammar and spelling reforms introduced last year.
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Germany’s new word disorder”
From the August 12th 2000 edition
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