Why English is Borrowing from German

I read a good bit on the lexical influence of German on English this morning. It felt a bit like a switcheroo since it was just the other day I talked about the active English presence in German.
I'm in the habit of peppering my daily speech with German words. But that's to be expected. Obviously, I use it daily professionally.
And I use it personally, daily too.
I tend to use German with a couple family members. Just like I only choose to use English with my niece and nephew, but Albanian with their Canadian father. And then comes the seasoning. The dish might be English but the seasons hail from all over. The spicier the dish, the better the taste. Or so I'm told. I get stomach cramps every time I get too experimental, though.

Right. Complicated.

Back to the article I just read. A paragraph says:

"In showbusiness anyone who has not earned the title of an über-agent, über-director, über-publicist, or über-whatever should probably be seeking career counselling. In politics, real players are über strategists, those who don’t make the cut “über goobers”. Global warming must be serious: commentators call it the über issue. Leonardo DiCaprio’s house goes on the market not as an ordinary domicile, but as an über home. Finance has not been spared. Market pessimists get to be “über bears”. Warren Buffett is, predictably, the über investor. Über is über all."

Reading this was no news to me as it's part of my quotidian linguistic reality. However, something bigger is happening here.
Could this extensive use of German by English speaker have anything to do with the state of the economy?
It would not be the first time, after all, that lexical borrowing is informed by the economy.

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Don't Switch and Run, B.R.!

The good half and I went to dinner to one of my favorite places in town.

I was expecting an important call and I excused myself to attend to it. I don't like to use the phone when I'm out, bonding. At least I try not to. But this was an exception. The waiter was already at our table and I did what, apparently, I tend to do quite often. I switched languages on my party.

I kindly asked the good half to order for me. Well, more importantly, what NOT to order. The good half says: "Ja, sicher....... [insert non-B.R.- decodable language here.] I didn't have time to produce my ubiquitous 'Eh?' since I had to speak on the phone.

So, I went out to finish my call.

I came back to see that my plate contained some concoction I hadn't intended to order. I then proceeded to produce my ubiquitous 'eh?' and then I added, 'Hmm. What was it you said to me when the waiter was about to take our order? What language was that, by the way?'

'Well, I said that I was annoyed that you hadn't turned the phone off and that I'd order the wrong thing for you. Just to make a point.' [Insert big smile.]

And I did what I have never done when I'm hungry and linguistically confused at the same time. I said, 'Point taken. Let's try the onions in this thing. Hmmm. Delicious.'

The item I specifically asked to be left out was, yes, onions. And, yes, I ate them.

Just to make a point, of course.

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graph per google image

Facebook Revisited

I reactivated my Facebook.
Why?
Because, thanks to my person's help, I won't have to spend time on it and enjoy the ok features it has to offer such as quicker functions than traditional email.
I consider myself a blogger first and no shifting has occurred in the hierarchy, of course.
So, E., a Facebook-er, indeed!

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"Fake Following" per Kotke

Jason Kotke hit it right.
"One of the new features of FriendFeed (a Twitter-like thingie) is "fake following". That means you can friend someone but you don't see their updates. That way, it appears that you're paying attention to them when you're really not. Just like everyone does all the time in real life to maintain their sanity. Rex calls it "most important feature in the history of social networks" and I'm inclined to agree. It's one of the few new social features I've seen that makes being online buddies with someone manageable and doesn't just make being social a game or competition."

Right.

via MR

Slydial: Straight to Voice Mail

Today I learned about Slydial.
Slydial is a free phone service that allows you to go straight to Voice Mail and leave a message. It's a tad impersonal, granted, but at the same time it looks pretty helpful. So, if you've ever had the following thought when calling someone: "please, don't pick up, please don't pick up. Voice mail, please!" then you might find Slydial useful.
Slydial could prove to be a good exercise in succinctness and economy of speech as well.
Learn more about Slydial here.
graph per Slydial