You really can’t blame the German Institute for Standardization (DIN) for being lazy there. For decades, the association has tried to bring clarity into people’s lives – this also applies to language. Of course, even a long-serving institution is powerless against such notorious word salads as the “Real Estate Traffic Permit Responsibility Transfer Ordinance” or the less harmless “Municipal Transport Financing Act”. But at least DIN has now managed to work out new proposals for the spelling table after only 76 years, which the Nazis ideologically adapted in the 1930s by erasing all Jewish names.
Almost an average human life later, the DIN decided to move completely away from first names in order to better correspond to the “reality of life”, not least because up to now hardly any female names have been allowed to contribute to spelling. Even if all the Bertas, Doras and Idas of this country will be sorry, city names should now come into play, especially those that only have one letter on the license plate. Fortunately, Munich is there, as well, of course, and – how could you not immediately think of Digrafen Qu: the beautiful Quickborn. Further ideas would be accepted, reports the German press agency.
Of course, it makes sense to reflect on the regionality and offer a few suggestions especially for Munich residents. The Ida could be perfectly replaced by the Isar, the Dora by Donnersbergerbücke and the Berta by Berg am Laim. Hot candidates would certainly also be G for gentrification and W for housing shortage. And because it is a word that hardly anyone outside of Munich (not even in Quickborn) knows, the K for district administration department should of course not be missing. Incidentally, it is questionable whether, for example, O for Oktoberfest would still be forward-looking because of A for rejection, which has already occurred twice because of C for – well, you know.