The language of the descendants of Goethe and Schiller at the beginning of the 21st century is an example of unsurpassed mastery of abbreviations and acronyms. They help to save time, they are practical in German and are quite worthy of the poet’s pen.
You can safely compose songs from modern German abbreviations. For example, in two verses of the hit MfG – Mit freundlichen Grüßen (“With best wishes”) by the group Fanta4, about a hundred abbreviations fit.
The piece of music begins with two public law television companies, a trade concern, the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic and the United States. They are followed in one breath by “mad cow disease, HIV, the German Red Cross, a simple partnership, LLC – come on, everyone …”:
ARD, ZDF, C&A
FRG, GDR and USA
BSE, HIV and DRC
GbR, GmbH – you can …
What’s in my room?
A separate chapter in the relations of Germans with abbreviations and abbreviations is presented by car numbers. As regional codes in Germany, not dry numbers are used, as in Russia, but letters – from one to three (M, ST, HAS). Some letter combinations just ask to be deciphered, creatively rethinking – based on the local image, color, or just for the sake of a catchphrase.
From this kind of encroachment, however, by a mysterious accident, senior government officials are protected in cars with special federal numbers: for example, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany (0-1), the chancellor (0-2), the head and first state secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (0-3, 0-4), as well as the President of the Bundestag (1-1). With all the will, you cannot decipher them creatively, although, perhaps, you want to.
Three letters
Regional codes are excellent material for the witty codebreakers. The most successful fruits of collective searches and intrigues stand the test of time and become generally recognized. The weekly German intellectuals Die Zeit once even prepared a list of such philological delights, and then published it in the collection “Map of Germany. 102 new truths” (Deutschlandkarte. 102 neue Wahrheiten, Knaur Verlag).
The more letters in the regional code, the stronger the temptation to come up with something tricky: long, that is, three-letter codes are often assigned to rural districts. They give out on the roads the inhabitants of a deep province, a redneck, and it is not a sin to laugh at them.
Vehicle with area code HST – Hansestadt Stralsund
In turn, numbers with one letter in the code indicate the registration of a car in a large city – for example, Berlin (B), Munich (M), Cologne (K). Such cars have a kind of built-in immunity from derisive decryptions, since the possibilities here are obviously limited.
Of the large cities, the less fortunate is the residents of Hamburg, a city with the status of a federal state. Instead of one H, their numbers have HH, from Hansestadt Hamburg. This is done in memory of trade traditions – the Hanseatic past. The ill-wishers turned HH into halbes Hirn – half of the brain. To put it bluntly, the people of Hamburg have become “idiots” on the roads. The editorial office of the newspaper, which compiled a map with alternative decryptions, is located in this city.
Some regional codes do not even require much sophistication to read alternately. Residents of the Thuringian town of Schmalkalden drive around with SM numbers, although most of them seem to be unnoticed with sadomasochistic inclinations.
As German humor
The selected passages from the list look like this and are published in no particular order with the rights of typically German humor:
– PS (Southwest Palatinate) – Pfälzisch Sibirien – Palatinate Siberia
– HU (Hanu) – Hessisch Uganda – Hesse Uganda
– NVP (Northern Western Pomerania) – noch vor Polen – Not Poland yet
– SL (Schleswig-Flensburg) – Sau lenkt – Pig rules
– BIT (Bitburg) – Bier im Tank – Beer in the tank
– BIR (Birkenfeld) – Bauer im Rausch – Drunken peasant
– FRI (Friesland) – frei rasender Idiot – Free rushing idiot
– WHV (Wilhelmshaven) – Wir haben Vorfahrt – Make way
– MÜR (Müritz) – Mecklenburger überhohlen rechts – Mecklenburgers overtake on the right
– OVP (Eastern Western Pomerania) – Ochsen von Pommern – Pomeranian bulls
– NF (North Frisia) – Nicht füttern – Do not feed
– WOB (Wolfsburg) – Weg, oder’s bumst! – Out of the way, otherwise I am dragging!
– DAN (Lyukhov-Dannenberg) – die armen Nachbarn – Poor neighbors
– VK (Völklingen) – verursacht Kolonnen – Columns are formed behind it
– HOM (Homburg) – Hupe ohne Motor – Signal without motor
– BAD (Baden-Baden) – Bauer auf Drogen – Peasant on drugs
– ERB (Erbach) – erste Rate bezahlt – Paid the first installment
– MOS (Mosbach) – meine Oma schiebt – My grandmother pushes
– LOS (Oder-Spree) – Land ohne Sonne – Land without sun
– BM (Bergheim) – bereifte Mörder – Assassins on Wheels
– AIC (Aihah) – Arsch im Cockpit – Ass in the cockpit
– DEG (Deggendorf) – Damenrad, erster Gang – Ladies bike, first speed
– RV (Ravensburg) – Rentnerverein – Club of pensioners
– FFB (Fürstenfeldbruck) – Fahrer fährt besoffen – The driver drives drunk
– NOM (Northeim) – niemals ohne Mutti – Never without mommy
– KI (Keel) – Kann immer – Maybe always
– JL (Jerichov) – Jammerlappen – Rags, pathetic types, crybabies
– ER (Erlangen) – ernst zu nehmendes Risiko – Serious danger
– BLK (Burgenland) – blödes langweiliges Kennzeichen – Stupid boring number
“Stupid boring number” … A good reason to put an end to it, although there are about a hundred of them on the list.
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