Auf wiedersehen lange deutsche Wort!

Today I learnt that the longest word in the German language has been eliminated.

This 63-letter megaword is: Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz . It refers to a law for the delegation of monitoring beef labeling. Maybe you would like to pause for a few moments and try and say this word out loud!

I have always enjoyed the German language and how new words can be made by combining existing words.  For example, German wine styles have names like Auslese, Beerenauslese, Trockenbeerenauslese (“dried berries selection”).

But these words are short by comparison to words like Handschuhschneeballwerfer (a person who wears gloves to throw snowballs) or Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, a term for car insurance that is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest German word in common use.

The photo at the top of this article is of a shop that specializes in floor maintenance  – Fussbodenschleifmaschinenverleih (Fuss-boden-schleif-maschinen-verleih). Google Translate tells me this means “Floor sander hire”.

What are your favourite German words – long or short?

Further reading:

• The Germans have a word for it – and it’s a very long one (Guardian)
• Geekosystem Article
• Photo courtesy of @andrea_wulf on Twitter