AMD2

    For my AMD2 assignment, I decided to read the article "Duden Publishes 'Words of the Decade' Volume" since I wasn't able to Skype with my German friend Marie. I chose to read this article because I love history, especially European history after World War II. For one, I thought that this article was interesting because of how two different versions of the Duden were published in Leipzig in 1951 and Mannheim in 1954. I also thought this article was interesting because of how the Ampelmännchen, the "über-cute little red and green guys from the former East Germany that signaled to pedestrians at crosswalks," were kept in their places instead of being torn down after the reunification of Germany in 1990 because of the help of fan clubs all across Germany. Additionally, I thought this article was interesting because of how Duden tries to keep track of Germany's modern history in a sense by recording the new words that have been developed in the past decade (from 2000-2010) in its 100th anniversary version of the dictionary. This new words include Hüftgold, or "hip gold, literally meaning fat stored on the hips, Gammelfleisch, rotten or unclean meat, Fremdschämen, being ashamed on the behalf of someone else, Dudelfunk, a radio that only plays German folk music, Dosenpfand, the deposit levied on drink cans, and Brötchentaste, the button on a parking meter which gives a few minutes free parking to pick up bread. I thought this was particularly interesting because I now have some terms to put with my experiences in Germany. These include Dosenpfand and Dudelfunk. I can now ask Marie's dad, who weirdly is a fan of German folk music, what's playing on the Dudelfunk station nowadays, or ask Marie how much they got back on pop bottles by using the term Dosenpfand. I thought the latter was interesting because bottles of water or Apfelsaftschlore, which means sparkling apple juice, are so expensive that the German government gives them a .25 Cents back for each bottle returned. It was always amusing to see Marie's dad come back with the money he got from returning the bottles declaring that he's a millionaire now, when it was only 10 Euros. Other words that were added in this dictionary in the last decade that have American influences include Buzzer, Hoax, Googeln, Get-together, Electronic Book, Drop-down Menü and Gangsta-rap. Some other words with influences from other countries include Caffe Latte, Latte macchiato, Pancetta, Bruschetta, El Kaida, Falafal, Manga, Shiitake and Sudoku, which are haven't been changed from Japanese, Arabic, and Italian. Overall, I thought that this was an interesting article because of how past history was incorporated into the Duden dictionary, and because of how new words being adapted every day.