A decision to sanction the use of the “idiot’s apostrophe” in the German language has provoked a furious backlash, with some media commentators accusing officials of “bowing” to English.
Possession of an object in English is almost always implied by the use of an apostrophe, as in: Henry’s Bar, Bloomingdale’s department store.
However, in German possession is indicated by using the genitive case or without an apostrophe, as in the case of Annes Cafe.
But for decades now, many Germans have resorted to copying the English language, choosing to use the apostrophe to denote possession.
The permissive use of what is known as the Deppenapostroph (“idiot’s apostrophe”) has forced those responsible for policing the German language into a major change.
Since 2004, the Council for German Orthography (RdR) has been considered the leading source of Standard High German spelling and grammar.
The institution is relied on for school textbooks in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
It announced on Monday that as of 2025, an apostrophe used to indicate possession will be considered correct.
The decision has provoked outrage among German media commentators, who fear the dominance of the English language.
In Austria’s Der Standard newspaper, the move was decried as another “normalisation of Anglicisms”.
A columnist in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung decried the council’s decision as further proof of the English language’s “victory march”.
In Germany, a commentator in the tabloid Bild said seeing signs like “Harald’s Eck” (“Harald’s Corner”) made his “hair stand on end”.
English is spoken widely around the globe. It is estimated that some 1.35 billion speak English.
On the other hand, it is believed that there are 90 million people who are native German speakers around the world.
In addition, German is spoken as a second language by an additional 10 to 25 million people, and as a foreign language by 75 to 100 million people.
