Overuse(Über-use?) of "uber"!?

[Ramon de Ramon y Ramon]

I couldn't help noticing that it seems to have become incredibly fashionable as of late to the use the German word "über" in English.

Does anybody know when, how and why that fashion started? I mean what is suddenly wrong with the English word "over"?

Oh, while I am at it: it is definitely über and not uber. There are three special variations of the vowels a, o and u in German, called "Umlaute" (ä,ö,ü), which are pronounced quite differently from the vowels themselves, so, yes, the difference matters. I fully realize that there are no keys for the Umlaute on a English keyboard and that you probably don't know the short cut codes for them, but there is an established way around that obstacle. The three Umlaute can be written as follows: ä=ae, ö=oe and ü=ue.

So, please, if you cannot resist the urge to spice up your English with a little foreign and exotic flavour, have the respect to make it: ueber.

Thank you! [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Melusine]

I haven't noticed an increase actually... but you're right no one ever uses an Umlaut. But then, people pronounce it as 'ooh-berr' anyway, so not much sense in correcting the spelling when it's still pronounced incorrectly

Oh and you can use 'over' in "over-enthusiastic" (for überenthusiastic) but not as in "over-man" (for überman) so that's possibly why people use the German word (über standing for both over- and super-). Plus I guess people think German sounds geil or something

[ 05-29-2003, 08:21 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

[NiceWorg]

Its not nice for german speakers that we use the word uber so totally wrong. I would be pissed of too to see a word from my own language being misused in a way that it makes no sense anymore.. we are lazy using umlauts, and the short cut codes took too much time to figure out.

But, oh well. [img]smile.gif[/img]

First, the reason we don't use umlauts here in the US is because they are not on our keyboards [img]smile.gif[/img] and if we cannot be bothered to even spell the word properly, why would we look for a way to put in a umlaut?

Second. The first time I heard Uber used in any way was a Saturday Night Live episode in the late 70's or so when they did a Skit about Uberman a take off on Superman. I think the kiddies who are using Uber in english are replaing the word "Super" and not "over". If asked to define uber, I doubt they even know it is of german origin.

[ 05-29-2003, 08:35 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]

[Melusine]

Originally posted by MagiK: First, the reason we don't use umlauts here in the US is because they are not on our keyboards [img]smile.gif[/img] and if we cannot be bothered to even spell the word properly, why would we look for a way to put in a umlaut?

They're not on mine either. I use Alt + 129.
If people can be bothered including font colour and size tags in every post, why not something as simple as a new letter?

[Vaskez]

Yeah, "Uber" in english has always been used to mean "super" not "over". Some twist of logic and/or understanding at some point in history. I suppose I should
complain because english don't use the word biro (ball-point pen) correctly. The Hungarian inventor's name was Bíró (that's an í not an i, little line on the i as opposed to a dot) and a line on the "o". As in german, this does make the pronounciation different!

[Melusine]

Originally posted by Vaskez: Yeah, "Uber" in english has always been used to mean "super" not "over". Some twist of logic and/or understanding at some point in history.

No, no, über means "super-" in German as well (famously, as in Übermensch)! It has more than one meaning so there's nothing wrong with the usage in English, merely with the spelling. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[Donut]

Originally posted by Ramon de Ramon y Ramon: So, please, if you cannot resist the urge to spice up your English with a little foreign and exotic flavour, have the respect to make it: ueber. Thank you! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Well Ramon II, English is an eclectic language. We have taken words from many different languages. At what stage does a word such as 'bungalow' cease to be hindi and become english?

I think once we annex a word it becomes ours to muck around with and misspell.



Otherwise I'd be drinking brandywijn tonight!

[ 05-29-2003, 08:58 AM: Message edited by: Donut ]

[Melusine]

Originally posted by Donut: Otherwise I'd be drinking brandywijn tonight!

Brandewijn. [img]tongue.gif[/img]

You're right apart from that though... I already informed MagiK a while ago of the fact that his wages are paid out in daalders.

[ 05-29-2003, 09:04 AM: Message edited by: Melusine ]

Originally posted by Melusine: They're not on mine either. I use Alt + 129. If people can be bothered including font colour and size tags in every post, why not something as simple as a new letter?

Ahh but you see, my font stuff is hot keyed and so just one keystroke, and since as part of my work, I have to learn to program in HTML, it is something Im exposed to every day..whereas I would very very rarely use an umlaut and would also have to learnt he grammer of the language where it is used...and Im not into languages as you may recall