Buzzword

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A buzzword refers to words or idioms "which - comparable to fashion - are only used with preference for a certain period of time, but are rarely used afterwards." Either they disappear completely from the language at some point or they are only used relatively rarely. so that they lose their character as a buzzword.

Distribution and function of buzzwords

Buzzwords can have a meaning for the entire language community . It is emphasized, however, that in many cases they only play a role in certain groups of speakers and then do a service to those who use them by indicating that they belong to the group in question.

Part of the concept of the buzzword is that it is used a lot. However, there is the risk that it will become a “word template” and consequently lose its expressiveness.

Examples from German

There have been buzzwords at all times.

“Sensibility” is given as a buzzword of the Baroque; the example shows how time-bound buzzwords can be; it has not disappeared from the language, but neither is it a word that is conspicuously frequently used.

Further examples can include expressions of approval / affirmation that are apparently subject to particularly rapid fashion changes: "fabulous" and "clean" or even "very large" hardly play a role in this sense and have long been replaced by others, for Example through “genuine”, which for its part has probably already passed the climax of its use in this sense. Especially in connection with computers and the Internet, the euphemism “(very) easy” became a buzzword.

The language criticism of the buzzword

Buzzwords are repeatedly the subject of language criticism and style teaching. Verdicts can be found everywhere. Most succinctly in Reiner's style guide , which simply says: “Avoid fashionable words!” Wolf Schneider, former head of the Hamburg School of Journalism, also deals with fashionable words in his works and advises against their use. On the other hand, he also thinks it is instructive: "For future linguists, the respective buzzwords will be the simplest key to the spirit or demon of the era ..."

literature

  • Peter Braun: Trends in contemporary German. Language varieties. 4th edition. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1998. Chapter Keywords - Modewords , pp. 207–213.
  • Wolfgang Fleischer, Georg Michel, Günter Starke: Stylistics of contemporary German. Peter Lang, Frankfurt a. M./Berlin/Bern/New York / Paris / Vienna 1993, pp. 120ff. ISBN 3-631-44771-X .
  • Willy Sanders: Good German - Better German. Practical style teaching in contemporary German. Scientific Book Society, Darmstadt 1986. ISBN 3-534-09480-8 . Chapter: Modewort, Fachwort, Fremdwort , pp. 129–135.
  • Berhand Sowinski: German stylistics. Observations on language use and language formation in German. Revised edition. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt 1972, p. 242. ISBN 3-596-26147-3 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sowinski 1972, p. 242
  2. ↑ Sowinski 1972, p. 243f.
  3. ↑ Baum 1998, p. 211.
  4. ↑ Sowinski 1972, p. 243
  5. ↑ a b Sanders 1986, p. 130
  6. ↑ Braun 1998, p. 210.
  7. ^ Alfred Schirmer: German Verbkunde. Cultural history of the German vocabulary. Sixth improved and expanded edition by Walther Mitzka. De Gruyter, Berlin 1969, p. 39.
  8. ^ Bernhard Sowinski: Stylistics. Metzler, Stuttgart 1991, p. 126. ISBN 3-476-10263-7 .
  9. ↑ Ludwik Reiners: Style Guide . Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich 1964, p. 80.
  10. ↑ Wolf Schneider: German for connoisseurs. The new style. Gruner & Jahr, Hamburg 1987, p. 116. ISBN 3-570-07958-9 .
  11. ^ Wolf Schneider: German for life. What the school forgot to teach. Rowohlt, Reinbek 1994, p. 38f. ISBN 3-499-19695-6 .
  12. ↑ Wolf Schneider: Words make people. Power and magic of language. 7th edition. Piper, Munich / Zurich 1994, p. 311. ISBN 3-492-10479-7 .

Web links

Wiktionary: buzzword  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations