Sustainable organic German

Commentary by Peter Löcke //

Can I set boundaries linguistically without excluding?  Can I use words to name differences without being suspected of discriminating against other people? Of course it works. As a language-sensitive person, I would have answered the initial questions with "of course" for a long time. Slowly I start to have doubts. I am increasingly at a loss for words. 

Worse still. Words are being taken from me. More and more words are being burned at the stake of the holy linguistic inquisition. Perhaps you will join me on my desperate search for words that are not yet on the language index! 

"Biodeutsch" - the favorite has won [1]. Germany has a new non-word. The choice of the Unwort 2024 was hardly surprising given the political orientation of the panel, the selection of the two guest jurors Saba-Nur Cheema and Meron Mendel and the experiences of the last ten years. The jury, made up of ivory tower linguists, has been defending the prevailing policy for a decade and instead criticizing its critics for their choice of words. This platform already established this last year [2], when shortly after the publication of Correctiv's "research" - what a coincidence - remigration was named the Unword of the Year 2023. The guest judge at the time  was called Ruprecht Polenz. What a personal coincidence, because Ruprecht Polenz is considered a passionate advocate of an AfD ban. Even then, I was at a loss for words as to why a jury can still call itself independent and neutral.

Bio-German? I shrug my shoulders at the choice of the unword, as I never use the term anyway. Nevertheless, I ask the provocative question, what word can I use instead to describe my origins? Like my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents, I was born in Germany. Germany is my homeland and the homeland of my ancestors, if I can still use the word homeland. So what unsuspicious word that is not a legal code word can I use to describe the history of my origins? I'm just looking for a word other than bio-German.

Please don't get me wrong. I consider myself neither better nor worse than a person who has only been in Germany for five years, 25 years or the third generation. I just want to be able to name the differences in origin and ask myself how? 

I am also looking for words for my fellow citizens with a different life story. The outdated word guest worker is out of the question. I understand that. The word suggests that people are only here for a visit and that they have to leave Germany again once they have finished their work. So foreigner or asylum seeker? These words are also out of the question because they feel disreputably right-wing extremist. Then please say "people with a migration background"! I would like to do that, but this formulation has long been the subject of linguistic debate [3]. The logs have been gathered, the word creation "migrant background" has been ready to be burned since January 2021. And now? I am still looking for a word to make a linguistic distinction. It's about understanding and making things understandable. It's about linguistic differentiation and not about human exclusion. I don't have the words.

Differences are being erased by flattening and leveling the language. The German language is being flattened and equalized because there can no longer be any differences. Everyone is the same. Everyone should at least be the same. German, non-German, new German? No more linguistic differentiation is allowed here. But I like to differentiate.

The phenomenon of egalitarianism, the blurring of all differences, is particularly evident in schools. No assessment at all. Just no linguistic or other differences.

School grades? The idea of no longer awarding grades is being considered again and again [4]. After all, there could be children who are smarter than others. It could be that the not-so-smart ones feel discriminated against. Federal youth games? They had to be reformed [5] so that there were certificates for everyone. There could be children who run faster and jump further. This in turn would mean that the less athletic pupils would feel disadvantaged. The crowning glory of the madness lies in the unspeakable self-determination law. Boy or girl? Here, too, there are no longer any differences. The child can choose for itself by an act of speech. A whole generation of young people is being brought up and indoctrinated before puberty with the idea that they can determine their own gender. 

Origin, nationality, biological sex, diligence, talent, a physical or mental handicap? All of this must be erased in the pursuit of the standardized, equal human being. Don't be what you are and strive for something higher! Just be what you would like to be and ignore the limits of reality! We are all the same and, if necessary, we erase any words that reveal a difference. I lack these differences. I am looking for a word for this human tragedy. I don't have the words, because there is something terribly absurd and ironic about this phenomenon.

While all of this is happening before our eyes, while everything is blurring into a grey uniformity, while concepts are ending up on the Cancel Culture pyre, those responsible are adorning themselves with colorful rainbows and terms such as diversity and variety. What an irony of contemporary history! 

But let's get back to the vote for the Unword of the Year. The independent jury of experts will vehemently disagree with me. They will indignantly distance themselves from being an inquisition. The linguists will make a point of examining the German language in order to raise linguistic awareness. In the unlikely event that ivory towers have windows and this comment is read, I would like to say two things to the experts.

Bio-German? The bad word of the year 2024 was not discussed at all in 2024 (see chart). Hardly anyone or the media used the bad word. Nor was the bad word of the year 2023 remigration in social discussion in 2023. It only became popular through the combination of Correctiv-Fantasy and the choice of the Unwort-Jury. You could almost get the idea that problems are being artificially created here.


 

Graphic: Screenshot Google Trends 13.1.2025

 

Are linguists experts who merely study linguistic phenomena or, in my opinion, inquisitors? Well. Inquisition means investigation. The Inquisition was the expert council of the Middle Ages, which merely investigated phenomena and then burned them. First words, then people.

I simply don't have the words. I don't have the words to distance myself from it linguistically.

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10 Responses

  1. When words are missing, reinterpreted or become non-words.
    Even in the dtsch. High-level German does not allow subtleties to be formulated as easily as dialects can; it lacks the right words. Examples:
    He drinks wine. - "He's drinking wine..."
    Tomorrow it will rain. - "It will rain or not..."
    Tell him to sit down. - "He should noa(n)squat..."

    For me, the residents who have lived here for a long time are locals. Then there are the newcomers; they can be from far away or just a few streets away - it doesn't matter to the locals; they first have to get to know and appreciate the newcomers.

    The newcomers have a different language or different pronunciation or use different words, which makes them recognizable. Or they have different customs, wear different clothes; they are different and can bring this new way into the community.

    As a local, you get to wear a headscarf, eat with chopsticks, wrap a sarong or sing "Silent Night, Holy Night" in Indonesian. In return, we explain our customs and exactly how we form our native pronunciation with our lips and tongue. Learning from each other.

    If a Mr. Müller and Mr. Fischer come to us from Siberia, then they are of German origin.

    Just as unusual words such as "cell phone" are still being Germanized here, I believe that people with other roots can also be Germanized. You get closer to each other and laughter is a good door opener.

    Uniforms look the same on the outside, even though the contents are completely individual.
    It becomes unusual when there is supposed to be one medicine for ALL, regardless of individual needs. - However, people with this desire have never wanted to undergo chemotherapy or a tar bath out of solidarity with others.

  2. Dear Mr. Löcke,
    That is to the point.
    I also have no words for this nonsense, which is politically deliberate but so irrelevant that I don't know whether to scream or shrug it off.
    Who on earth among our fellow human beings is interested in these "linguistic" blunders?
    And what are the real problems and issues of our time that should and must be addressed openly and discussed in a diverse and controversial manner?

  3. Very well diagnosed, thank you for the contribution. On one point, dear Peter Löcke (I had to make sure I hadn't mistaken the "L" for an "H" by mistake): that you are "confused", can no longer speak spontaneously, the "wrong" thing could have slipped out, that seems to me to be precisely the intention of the inquisitors: Uncertainty! What am I (still) "allowed" to say? Just like with the corona "measures": how many guests are "allowed"; what distance applies; mask where, when? All naturalness, spontaneity, certainty killed. Constantly looking anxiously over your shoulder ... that's the principle of terror.

  4. Once again, you have hit the nail on the head. It is impressive how people (or rather: today's inquisitors) keep creating problems where there really aren't any - at least not to an extent that would compel them to take such action. But this is not a new phenomenon.

    Interestingly, this development makes me optimistic. The increasing insanity is making the whole game more and more obvious, and this is helping more and more people to 'wake up'. They are beginning to see what is really happening and are questioning the one-size-fits-all mishmash of the force-funded media. In my eyes, the protagonists of this system are digging their own grave.

    It's almost as if these absurd actions are necessary to reach a critical mass that will finally initiate change. And yes, I understand that from the perspective of those who have long since woken up, it could happen much faster - but as the saying goes: good things take time.

    Thank you very much for your tireless, professional work. I wish you continued success!

  5. This pretended or hypocritical concern about "not marginalizing a minority" is seriously at odds with the following fact:
    The same protagonists can hardly stop themselves in their efforts to marginalize the opposition - legitimized by democratic elections - AfD as well as its members, supporters and sympathizers by means of firewalling, denigrating them with unobjective and untrue labels as "racists" or "Nazis" etc. pp.
    Even unlawful "preventing a party conference" comes into consideration for the allegedly concerned hypocrites.

  6. This description by Peter Löcke is absolutely accurate, and his questions are justified. But how do we restore order to our language? It will probably not happen separately from solving the even bigger problem of cultural communism. In my opinion, this must be eliminated. Only then can our German language regenerate. With regard to the timing of the solution, I am extremely skeptical that there will be any improvement in my lifetime due to the educational misery that has been produced in the FRG for decades and the associated majority ratios.
    You only have to realize that the unword jury describes the unword as a "racist, biologistic form of nationality" [1]. We already had black times in the past, when those in power marked belonging to a religious community as a race.
    Werner Ullrich

    Source [1]: https://www.unwortdesjahres.net/presse/aktuelle-pressemitteilung/

  7. Dear Mr. Löcke, like you, I love the German language and German culture. I still say foreigner and if someone feels offended, I talk to them and ask them what bothers them. 99% of the conversations I have had have been positive.
    A request to you, lovers of the German language: avoid the (un)word "angedacht"; it's generally used by these pseudo-intellectuals and sounds silly to my ears.
    Otherwise, I share your comments.
    With kind regards
    Astrid Poensgen-Heinrich

  8. Chapeau! Brilliant as always and spoken from the heart as usual. I'd get my bathrobe ready now for the use of potentially delegitimizing ideas. Tip: they always come between 6 and 7 a.m. It's best to feed the animals beforehand and have breakfast yourself. They take EVERYTHING with them...

  9. I, too, have no words to express how much you speak from my soul, Mr. Löcke.

    The lack of words is due, I suspect, at least in my case, to the fact that I have only recently, and thus rather late, begun to develop a deeper understanding of the causal connections between the circumstances and conditions you have outlined.

    In the foreground, I have long been tormented by questions that revolve, among other things, around wanting to understand how it can be possible that there is no authority in the land of poets and thinkers that watches over the fact that a language as rich in detail and variation as "German" survives this (and every other) present unscathed as a precious cultural asset.

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