Of apostrophe abuse, and the results
Aug. 14th, 2006 07:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
olorielFor some reason or other, I've always had a, shall we say, less than happy relationship to the Lauras Stern ("Laura's Star") series. I know that I'm being childish and silly - firstly, I don't even know much of the series; secondly, it's for children and does, actually, look cute; thirdly, it doesn't harm anyone. I only know that it's hyped - insanely much, considering that it's just a stupid and, from what I've gathered, rather simple little tale; that the trailer for the movie version was shown in front of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which, if you ask me, addresses a completely different age and target group; that said trailer was way too long, considering it only consisted of a cheesy scene from the movie with cheesy music and a few "oooh?"s, "aaaah!"s and "hmmm."s (honestly, I thought the Teletubbies were bad enough!); and that my town is currently plastered with posters for a play about the same stories. They say, in big "friendly" letters (Comic Sans - another private enemy!), "Laura's Stern".
Now this is something that'll never stop to annoy me. I know it's silly, but I can't help it.
You don't, you just don't, use an apostrophe with the German genitive. You don't. (Edit: Or you shouldn't, anyway!) Not unless the name you wish to create the genitive of ends in s, ß or z. In that case, the apostrophe is used rather than adding yet another s. It's "Günter Grass' Geständnis" (whee, alliteration!), "Thomas' Buch", "Maedhros' Hand"* and so on. (Some accents use "-ens" or "-es" instead of the apostrophe, or pronounce the apostrophe as "-ens" or "-es", anyway, but that's not relevant now.) But if the word doesn't end in s or a related sound, there's no need for an apostrophe. It's "Daniels Buch", "Thrawns Hand"*, and "Lauras Stern". We know that we're not talking about multiple people named Daniel that have something to do with one book because it just wouldn't work grammatically, or a Greek Jew whose first name is Lauras, because there's a little girl on the poster, not a boy. (Of course, I am now tempted to bring a - male - character named Lauras Stern into my next NaNovel...)
Basically, we leave the all-time use of the apostrophe to the English. ;) People have been confusing this for a long, long time, and I really, really don't know why they have to do this. It pissed me off in primary school already. (Yes, I was madly obsessed with language even then. And a book purist. I'm sorry. I started early. Which is probably why I'm so good at pointlessly bitching about things like this - decades of experience...)
And now it says "Laura's" on all those posters that all the cute little children see. And all those cute little children will think that this is how it's done correctly, and go ahead writing "Daniel's Buch" and "Sophie's Welt" and "Michelangelo's Bilder" and "Harry Potter's Zauberstab" and whatever. Adults are doing it wrong, so who can blame the kids really. I don't blame them, I blame the people who're doing it wrong even though they should know better. This has been completely untouched by the orthography reforms, even! Apostrophes are wonderful, but only if used correctly. The same, by the way, goes for commas. Having to read texts full of mis-placed commas makes me cringe. This happens often with English texts written by Germans, because they mistakenly use the German rules for commas in English. WRONG. German needs way more commas than English. (If any native speakers of English ever wondered why Germans like to litter English texts with random superfluous commas, that's why.) It's "I just wanted to tell you that I love you", not "I just wanted to tell you, that I love you", even though it's "Ich wollte dir nur sagen, dass ich dich liebe" in German. AUGH. - But I digress.
So as you can see, those little posters inviting me to watch "Laura's Stern" are annoying me. And as I've never liked the series much, I now have a sinister sort of cross-over plot-bunny in my head. See, Lauras Stern is basically about this little girl (nobody will be surprised to hear that her name is Laura) seeing a shiny falling from the sky. She finds it, sees that it's a star, and takes it home. I don't know what happens afterwards, really. What should happen is that cutesy little Laura's home is burned down by seven tall pissed-off pointy-eared people in search of the shiny. They steal the star and take off with it. Rocks fall, everybody dies. (I'd even forgive them for the stray apostrophe if it ended like that.)
I do apologize for thisnot so random outburst of violence.
*Yes, I can bring my fandoms into any topic. But you knew that.
Now this is something that'll never stop to annoy me. I know it's silly, but I can't help it.
You don't, you just don't, use an apostrophe with the German genitive. You don't. (Edit: Or you shouldn't, anyway!) Not unless the name you wish to create the genitive of ends in s, ß or z. In that case, the apostrophe is used rather than adding yet another s. It's "Günter Grass' Geständnis" (whee, alliteration!), "Thomas' Buch", "Maedhros' Hand"* and so on. (Some accents use "-ens" or "-es" instead of the apostrophe, or pronounce the apostrophe as "-ens" or "-es", anyway, but that's not relevant now.) But if the word doesn't end in s or a related sound, there's no need for an apostrophe. It's "Daniels Buch", "Thrawns Hand"*, and "Lauras Stern". We know that we're not talking about multiple people named Daniel that have something to do with one book because it just wouldn't work grammatically, or a Greek Jew whose first name is Lauras, because there's a little girl on the poster, not a boy. (Of course, I am now tempted to bring a - male - character named Lauras Stern into my next NaNovel...)
Basically, we leave the all-time use of the apostrophe to the English. ;) People have been confusing this for a long, long time, and I really, really don't know why they have to do this. It pissed me off in primary school already. (Yes, I was madly obsessed with language even then. And a book purist. I'm sorry. I started early. Which is probably why I'm so good at pointlessly bitching about things like this - decades of experience...)
And now it says "Laura's" on all those posters that all the cute little children see. And all those cute little children will think that this is how it's done correctly, and go ahead writing "Daniel's Buch" and "Sophie's Welt" and "Michelangelo's Bilder" and "Harry Potter's Zauberstab" and whatever. Adults are doing it wrong, so who can blame the kids really. I don't blame them, I blame the people who're doing it wrong even though they should know better. This has been completely untouched by the orthography reforms, even! Apostrophes are wonderful, but only if used correctly. The same, by the way, goes for commas. Having to read texts full of mis-placed commas makes me cringe. This happens often with English texts written by Germans, because they mistakenly use the German rules for commas in English. WRONG. German needs way more commas than English. (If any native speakers of English ever wondered why Germans like to litter English texts with random superfluous commas, that's why.) It's "I just wanted to tell you that I love you", not "I just wanted to tell you, that I love you", even though it's "Ich wollte dir nur sagen, dass ich dich liebe" in German. AUGH. - But I digress.
So as you can see, those little posters inviting me to watch "Laura's Stern" are annoying me. And as I've never liked the series much, I now have a sinister sort of cross-over plot-bunny in my head. See, Lauras Stern is basically about this little girl (nobody will be surprised to hear that her name is Laura) seeing a shiny falling from the sky. She finds it, sees that it's a star, and takes it home. I don't know what happens afterwards, really. What should happen is that cutesy little Laura's home is burned down by seven tall pissed-off pointy-eared people in search of the shiny. They steal the star and take off with it. Rocks fall, everybody dies. (I'd even forgive them for the stray apostrophe if it ended like that.)
I do apologize for this
*Yes, I can bring my fandoms into any topic. But you knew that.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 06:31 pm (UTC)But you do. Well, you can do it, in a certain context. I think it had something to do with emphasising your name in advertising like "Herbert's Imbissbude", "Oma's Kaffeestube". I think it was in Bastian Sick's "Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod" where I read that.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 06:43 pm (UTC)In this particular case, it's up to you; both "Basically, you're right" and "Basically you're right" are correct.People do that, yes. But it's technically not correct. It's just common use by now, so it's generally tolerated (officially, it seems, since the Rechtschreibreform - surprisingly enough, though, even people who hate the Rechtschreibreform use the apostrophe wrongly...). But while I tend to tolerate most of the Rechtschreibreform by now, this is something that still annoys me (just like e.g. "aufwändig", which I refuse to ever, ever use. It comes from "aufwenden", not from "Aufwand", people! THE VERB ALWAYS COMES FIRST!). Apostrophitis hurtses our eyes, precious!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 06:39 pm (UTC)Ich hasse falsch verwendete Apostrophe. Zu "Harry Potter's Zauberstab" kann man gleich noch "alles für's Kind" hinzufügen, was eine weitere Unsitte des inkorrekten Sprachgebrauchs ist.
Und mir gefällt dein Plot für "Lauras Stern" viel besser als das Original, das ich mir in Auszügen 'mal zusammen mit meiner kleinen Nichte antun müsste. :)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 06:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:04 pm (UTC)Wobei ich mit "für's" oder "in's" nicht ganz so hart ins Gericht gehe wie mit "Laura's". Bei "für
das" und "indas" kann man wenigstens noch damit argumentieren, dass da ja was wegfällt, und das will man dann halt mit dem Apostroph zeigen. Ist auch nicht korrekt, aber es zeigt wenigstens, dass man sich ein paar Gedanken gemacht hat. Aber was soll das Apostroph denn bitte bei "Laura's" ersetzen (außer das Denken)? ;)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:19 pm (UTC)Autsch, autsch, autsch.
Bei "für das" und "in das" kann man wenigstens noch damit argumentieren, dass da ja was wegfällt, und das will man dann halt mit dem Apostroph zeigen. Ist auch nicht korrekt, aber es zeigt wenigstens, dass man sich ein paar Gedanken gemacht hat.
Das stimmt natürlich, aber es wundert mich immer wieder, dass die Leute noch nicht gemearkt haben, das 's für "es" steht und man ja schlecht "für es Kind" abkürzen kann. :)
Aber es ist schön zu sehen, dass ich offenbar keineswegs die einzige besserwisserische Gralshüterin der deutschen Sprache bin...
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:22 pm (UTC)Och, in manchen Dialekten klingt "das" und "es" beides wie "ett", vielleicht kommt das daher? ;)Bestimmt nicht. Ich beruhige mich schon immer damit, dass es da auch noch viel schlimmere Leute gibt. Teilweise sogar so schlimm, dass selbst ich es lächerlich finde... *denkt gerade üüüüberhaupt nicht an ihre Oma*
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:34 pm (UTC)Im Bayerischen klingt beides gleich wie 's. Noch viel offensichtlicher. :)Ich kenne da eine frühere Mitbewohnerin, die Latein, Englisch und Sprachwissenschaft studiert hat und die ich irgendwann in einem Anfall purer Verzweiflung als "linguistische Korinthenkackerin" beschimpft habe... (Ist 'ne gute Freundin von mir, also durfte ich das. :D)
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:44 pm (UTC)Ich nenne mich ja manchmal auch liebevoll das linguistische Trüffelschwein. Und das Trüffelschwein meine ich dabei nicht immer positiv...
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 08:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:10 pm (UTC)But then, of course, we also have "Ketschup" (inconsistent - if you rape the word, why not make it "Ketschap" already?) and "Portmonee" now. (Pass the brain bleach, please?)
So perhaps it's Schangse after all. Malchance!
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 07:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 08:19 pm (UTC)Ich weiß nicht, ob ich das glauben soll, aber ich weiß ganz sicher, dass ich das NIEMALS so machen werde, da kann das tausendmal zulässig sein! Nur weil die Deutschen zu doof sind, ihre eigene Sprache vernünftig zu schreiben, braucht man noch lange nicht hinzugehen und jeden Mist, den die Leute nicht kapieren, einfach für korrekt zu erklären.
Aber da wir ja ohnehin alle drei Wochen andere Rechtschreibregeln haben, ist es mir auch langsam egal...
Hab ich dir eigentlich schon mal gesagt, dass ich deine Einträge zu sprachlichen Fragen liebe? <3
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 08:45 pm (UTC)Ich glaub nicht - aber es freut mich sehr! Ich hab immer ein etwas schlechtes Gewissen dabei, so nach dem Motto "Anderswo verhungern die Kinder, und du regst dich hier über falsch geparkte Apostrophe auf...", aber irgendwie muss ich es dann trotzdem immer posten. Wenn es wenigstens Leute gibt, die das gern lesen, ist es ja doch irgendwie gerechtfertigt...
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 10:29 pm (UTC)Den Kindern wäre auch nicht geholfen, wenn du dich an dieser Stelle darüber aufregen würdest, dass sie hungern ^.~
Abgesehen davon ist Sprache ein wichtiges Mittel zur Kommunikation. Gerade im Internet ist man ja meist auch auf die geschriebene Sprache angewiesen. Ich kann nicht mit Leuten kommunizieren, deren geschriebene Sprache a) Augenkrebs erregend und b) unverständlich ist. Und irgendwann ist einfach der Punkt erreicht, an dem zu viele Fehler einen Text unlesbar machen.
Ich nehme das ziemlich ernst mit der Sprache, und das, obwohl ich die deutsche Sprache noch nicht mal sonderlich schön finde. Trotzdem ist sie praktisch mein Handwerkszeug, und wenn ich sie nicht beherrsche, brauche ich im Grunde gar nicht erst zu versuchen, mich anderen Leuten mitzuteilen.
no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 09:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-14 09:52 pm (UTC)which is probably why it's happy; if it got hit too often, it'd be a sad medium indeed...*apologizes for the lousy joke* *watches the tumbleweed roll by*no subject
Date: 2006-08-15 06:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-08-18 02:39 pm (UTC)Einigen Regeln der neuen Rechtschreibreform verweigere ich mich auch, Schangse z. B. hört sich einfach verboten an. Als ich das Wort das erste Mal gesehen habe, war ich mir nicht sicher, ob dass nun ein chinesischer Fluss oder ein Ausdruck aus dem Hamburger Rotlichtmilieu sein soll.
Ich bin absolut nicht perfekt, besonders nach der Rechtschreibreform, aber ein kleines bißchen Mühe kann man sich doch wirklich geben.
Und die Fanfiktion würde ich wirklich gern lesen. Der Plot hört sich herrlich sarkastisch an.