The Youth Word of the Year vote will be eliminated this year. No more "Babo", no "Smombie", no "Yolo" and no "I bims". This is confirmed by the head of Pons-Verlag, Erhard Schmidt. Whether it is a final vote for the always media-effective staged election or just a break, "is still decided," says Schmidt.
Background is a fundamental change in the publishing landscape. For years, the Langenscheidt publishing house had been looking for the youth word in Munich in order to advertise its lexicon "100 percent youth language".
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Youth words since 2008: Smombie, Babo, YoloA jury chose new word creations such as "Smombie," a smartphone and zombie art word, "Babo," which means boss, and "Yolo" for "You only live once" or "I bims," the verbalization of "It's me." ". At the last election in 2018 "Ehrenmann / Ehrenfrau" prevailed.
This spring, however, the competition, the Klett Group belonging Pons -Verlag in Stuttgart, the brand Langenscheidt and the associated products had taken.
"The deal came at an unfavorable time for the product," says Pons boss Schmidt. The condition of the lexicon "was not such that we could finish the product in a reasonable condition this year". And that's why the advertising for it now falls out.
In the video: "Lindnern", "leek", "verbuggt" - Do you speak youth?
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This is not really tragic, says Annette Trabold, the spokeswoman for the Leibniz Institute for German Language (IDS) in Mannheim: "These adolescent words were not quite properly statistically documented." There were fads and ephemera. "
Your institute has been collecting new words in a neologism dictionary for years. "The selection of the youth word did not meet our requirements." However - and this is what she emphasizes - it is always a pity when there is a reason to think about language, to discuss language.
"Wonderfully controversial"
The same is true of the linguist Nils Uwe Bahlo, who researches the language of youth at the University of Münster (WWU): "The choice of youth has stimulated thinking about language, even though it certainly was unscientific so wonderfully controversial to discussions around and over language excited. "
Because much was discussed about the youth word. It was now the "rotten meat party", a little flattering name for a Ü-30 party and 2008, the first elected youth word ever, or 2016 "Fly sein". The expression comes from the hip-hop language and should mean something like: Someone or something "goes particularly off".
According to media reports, another provider had found in the meantime, who wanted to continue the youth vote in a purely online voting. After the page was hacked, but the project was terminated again.
The determination of a youth word is not protected according to Schmidt. "Therefore, we can not prohibit such an action."
