Internet neologisms (Philological Room) Language Learning Forum

Internet neologisms
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10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2

morinkhuur
Triglot
Groupie
Germany
Joined 4458 days ago
79 posts - 157 votes

Speaks: German*, Latin, English
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi)

Message 9 of 10

21 April 2013 at 11:51am | IP Logged

patrickwilken wrote:

I like the German verb 'surfen', in the sense of Internet surf, but usually sounds to me
when I hear it used like someone is about to hit a few waves. It must have entered the German language when the
phrase surfing the web was still popular in English, which I haven't heard anyone say in years so there is an
interesting dissonance when I hear it in German.

I guess now days you might end up with a German verb like "onlinen" which would give you excellent expressions
like "Ich online das Internet".

I have also seen verbs like downloaden, chatten, frenden, and I am sure there are many others. I think a lot of
these originally come from advertising copy, that tends to borrow English words and generates a Denglish
equivalent, which can then potentially enter everyday conversation.

"Im Internet surfen" is about as popular as "surfing the web" is in English nowadays. In the early days of
widespread internet use, it was a very common expression but you don't hear it a lot any more.

I don't think "onlinen" will become popular as there is already the verb "online sein" which is commonly used.
"Downloaden" is used a lot, even though you could just as well say "herunterladen" whereas "Chatten" has no
German equivalent. I've never heard "frienden" before, I think you would rather say "adden", which is another
interesting Denglish word.

Edited by morinkhuur on 21 April 2013 at 11:53am
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patrickwilken
Senior Member
Germany
radiant-flux.net
Joined 4314 days ago
1546 posts - 3200 votes

Studies: German

Message 10 of 10

21 April 2013 at 3:45pm | IP Logged

morinkhuur wrote:

Thanks. That's really interesting. I hadn't realized that "online sein" was actually a verb.

I saw 'frenden' in a poster on the u-bahn in Berlin, but of course that doesn't mean it's used by anyone in the real World.
1 person has voted this message useful

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