Youth word of the year (Germany)

The Youth word of the year (German: Jugendwort des Jahres) is an annual publication which reviews trends in German youth language and names one new or recently popularized word as the most noteworthy. The winning word is chosen by a jury under the guidance of publishing company Langenscheidt, who specializes in language reference works. The competition has run since 2008, but no word was announced in 2019.

The competition stands in the tradition of assessments of a word of the year, the longest-running being the selection of the German word of the year by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache (GfdS), which has been announced annually since 1977.[1]

Selection process

The public is invited to nominate words online, which are then narrowed down in a multi-step process. The jury has the final say over the winner and the runners-up; until 2020 there was no public voting and no formal inclusion of young people in the process. The criteria applied to the nominated words include 'linguistic creativity', 'originality', 'degree of proliferation', and 'societal and cultural events'.[2]

History

The selection of the youth word of the year is part of an annual publicity campaign for Langenscheidt's 100 Prozent Jugendsprache ("100 percent Youth Language"), a dictionary of new and old expressions used by German-speaking young people. After Langenscheidt was bought by publisher Pons in spring 2019, no youth word of the year was announced for that year, since the accompanying dictionary was not deemed to be ready. After some uncertainty about the future of the competition,[3] 2020 saw a new edition of the youth word of the year, with the winning entry being decided in an online vote for the first time.[4][5]

List of youth words of the year
Year Rank Words

(winner in bold)

 Direct translation Explanation
2008 1 Gammelfleischparty "spoiled meat party" Party for people over the age of 30
2 Bildschirmbräune "screen tan" Pallid skin color on habitual computer users
3 unterhopft sein "undersupplied with hops" Being thirsty for a beer
2009 1 hartzen "to hartz" Being unemployed, 'hanging around'. Named after highly controversial reforms of the German labor market known as Hartz IV.
2 bam – Variant of 'cool'
3 Bankster – Compound of banker and gangster
2010 1 Niveaulimbo "standards limbo" Continuous slipping of standards, escalating parties, frivolous talk among young people
2 Arschfax "ass fax" Accidentally leaving the clothes tag on underwear visible above other clothing
3 Egosurfen Egosurfing Searching for one's own name in a search engine
2011[6] 1 Swag – English-language slang word meaning stylish confidence[7]
2 (epic) fail – English-language slang for complete failure, often used as an interjection[8]
3 guttenbergen "to guttenberg" Commit (academic) plagiarism. Reference to the 2011 Guttenberg plagiarism scandal
2012[9][10] 1 YOLO – Acronym of 'you only live once'
2 FU! – Abbreviation of 'Fuck You!'
3 Yalla! – From Arabic, meaning 'hurry up', 'let's go' or 'go away'[11]
2013[12] 1 Babo – From Zazaki, meaning boss or leader. Popularized by rapper Haftbefehl[13]
2 fame – Identical to English
3 gediegen "dignified" Cool, nonchalant, debonair
2014[14] 1 Läuft bei dir "Things are going for you" When a person has success or luck; 'you got it!'. Also used ironically
2 Gönn dir! "treat yourself" 'Have fun!'
3 Hayvan "animal" From Turkish & Arabic, meaning a person that exhibits some degree of anti-social behaviour. Popularized with a somewhat positive connotation by rapper KC Rebell & Summer Cem[15]
2015[16] 1 Smombie – Portmanteau of smartphone and zombie, meaning persons so distracted by smartphone use that they barely acknowledge their surroundings[17]
2 merkeln "to merkel" Referring to Angela Merkel's style of governing, which is perceived to be overly cautious and marked by hesitant decision-making[18]
3 rumoxidieren "to oxidize" To chill out, relax, hang around; the only activity being breathing
2016[19] 1 fly sein "to be fly" English-language slang meaning cool, awesome, stylish
2 bae – Acronym of 'before anyone else'; best friend
3 isso "it is so" Contraction of "es ist so"; affirmation, emphasis
2017[20][21][22][23] 1 I bims "It's me" References common speech patterns in so-called 'Vong speak' (see Vong (Sprache))
2 napflixen "to napflix" Portmanteau of 'napping' and 'Netflix'; having a nap during a movie[24]
3 tinderjährig "of Tinder age" To be old enough to be able to use dating platform Tinder; resembles the word "minderjährig" (being a minor)[25]
2018[26] 1 Ehrenmann / Ehrenfrau "man/woman of honour" Friendly person, gentleman
2 glucose-haltig "containing glucose" Sweet; glucose as a simple form of sugar
3 verbuggt "buggy" Defective, falling short of expectations. References bugs in engineering.
2019[27] none – – No word was selected in 2019.
2020[28] 1 lost – Identical to English
2 cringe – Identical to English
3 wild / wyld "wild" Situation or act that is 'too wild' and elicits strong emotions
2021[29] 1 cringe – Identical to English
2 sus – English-language slang meaning 'suspicious' or 'suspect', based on popular video game Among Us
3 sheesh – Identical to English
2022[30] 1 smash – Making a pass at someone, having sex; based on the game smash or pass?
2 bodenlos "bottomless" Bad, crummy, appaling
3 Macher "maker" Someone who does things without hesitation

Criticism and discussion

A common criticism of the competition to find the 'youth word of the year' is that it is merely an elaborate advertising campaign for publisher Langenscheidt. Critics have also doubted whether the selected words are actually used by young people, especially since they are not the only group which can nominate words, but rather users of all age groups.[19]

The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache called the competition a "nice idea". But GfdS' Lutz Kuntzsch added that he considered it "playing with language", and that he would not expect young people to actually use all or any of the nominated words.[31]

Wolfgang Gaiser of the German Youth Institute, a social science research center in Munich, criticised that "this is more about a publisher's marketing than social science about how young people speak and think. Using such shenanigans to generate attention for publications and find new readers is a clever marketing gag. [...] When silly phrases are given center stage, and it is implied that this represents the level of speech and thought of today's youth, then this paints a distorted picture."

2009

The word 'hartzen' was criticized for implying that unemployed people were lazy and were voluntarily living at the expense of the state.[32]

2015

The phrase 'Alpha-Kevin' meaning 'the dumbest possible person' (referencing the phenomenon of Kevinism, a German prejudice against persons with certain trendy names) was removed from the competition, because the jury felt it was discriminatory against real persons with the name.[33] Additionally, journalists doubted that the word 'Smombie' had seen actual usage, given that no mentions prior to the competition could be found, and a large majority of young people had never heard of it.[17] Critics speculated that the word could be an invention of Langenscheidt.[34]

2020

After Langenscheidt had decided to not crown a youth word of the year in 2019, the competition returned in 2020. The publisher had responded to criticism by giving more power to online users in the process. The publisher accepted nominations via its website, and the winning entry (the English word 'lost') was decided by online voting for the first time, rather than purely through a jury vote.[35]

A minor controversy hinged on the nomination of the word 'Hurensohn' ('son of a whore', bastard), which was suggested en masse by the users of a German-language community on Reddit. The word had been part of a popular meme about speaking German.[36] Responding to the flood of nominations, Langenscheid stated that 'Hurensohn' had been disqualified from the process because they would not consider expletives and slurs. However, the word was slated for inclusion in that year's annual dictionary of youth language.[37]

See also

Literature

References
  1. "Wort des Jahres - GfdS". gfds.de. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  2. "Jugendwort des Jahres 2021". langenscheidt.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  3. Jugendwort des Jahres: 2019 gibt es keine Wahl, leider!.
  4. "Jugendwort des Jahres 2020". Langenscheidt. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  5. "Wahl des Jugendworts: "No front, Diggah! Du bist total lost"". www.zeit.de. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  6. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres ist gewählt!". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2011-12-05.
  7. "Why Do We Call It 'Swag'?". www.merriam-webster.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  8. "Epic fail definition and meaning - Collins English Dictionary". www.collinsdictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  9. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres 2012". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2012-11-26.
  10. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres ist gewählt!". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2012-12-10.
  11. "Yalla!: Alles zu Bedeutung, Übersetzung und mehr". giga.de. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  12. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres 2013". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2013-11-25.
  13. Schwilden, Frédéric (2021-07-17). "Generation Shisha: Wo Helmut Kohl beliebter ist als Angela Merkel". DIE WELT. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  14. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres 2014". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
  15. "Hayvan: Bedeutung des Wortes von KC Rebell". GIGA (in German). 2017-01-20. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  16. "Das Jugendwort des Jahres 2015". jugendwort.de. Retrieved 2015-11-13.
  17. "The word of the year (whether we like it or not)". www.spectator.co.uk. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  18. "In the words of young Germans, just 'merkeln'". POLITICO. 2015-08-03. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  19. "Sprache: Jugendwort des Jahres 2016 ist "fly sein"". Spiegel Online. 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2016-11-18.
  20. "I bims ist "Jugendwort des Jahres 2017"". Facebook. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  21. ""I bims" ist "Jugendwort des Jahres 2017"". 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  22. "Deutsche Sprache: "I bims" ist Jugendwort des Jahres". Spiegel Online. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  23. "Sprache: Vong diesem Mann her kommt 1 neue Sprache". welt.de. 2017-06-13. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  24. "Online-Abstimmung: "Geht fit" oder "napflixen" – das Jugendwort 2017 wird gekürt". shz.de. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  25. "Was wird das Jugendwort 2017?". freundin.de. 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2017-11-17.
  26. "Jugendwort des Jahres 2018". Langenscheidt Online. 2018. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  27. "Traditionelle Wahl fällt aus – Kein "Jugendwort des Jahres" 2019". ZDF heute. 2019-10-17. Retrieved 2019-10-20.
  28. "Jugendwort des Jahres 2020 | Langenscheidt". Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  29. ""Cringe" ist "Jugendwort des Jahres" 2021". BR24 (in German). 2021-10-25. Retrieved 2021-10-25.
  30. NDR. "Jugendwort des Jahres 2022: "Smash" vor "Macher und "bodenlos"". www.ndr.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-01-04.
  31. Zeitung, Süddeutsche. ""Babo" zum Jugendwort des Jahres gewählt". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  32. ""Hartzen" zum Jugendwort 2009 gekürt". Schwäbische (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  33. "Warum Alpha Kevin plötzlich nicht mehr zur Wahl steht". welt.de. 2015-07-25. Retrieved 2015-07-25.
  34. "Teens pick 'Smombie' as hippest German word". The Local Germany. 2015-11-14. Retrieved 2021-08-14.
  35. "Jugendwort des Jahres: "Lost" ist der Gewinner". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-08-21.
  36. "Langenscheidt verbietet "Hurensohn" als Jugendwort des Jahres" (in German). ze.tt. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  37. "Meme-Schlacht im Netz: "Hurensohn" darf nicht Jugendwort werden" (in German). 2020-07-09. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
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