A city councilor from Vienna caused a stir because in a message she wrote pedestrians rather than pedestrians. The tabloid press became alarmed: “The city of Vienna is abolishing the word pedestrian.” The fear may be exaggerated, but the fact that the Viennese officials are generally very motivated when it comes to gender issues is demonstrated, for example, by their cover letters (“Dear ladies, dear gentlemen, dear people of all genders!”). But it’s not just Vienna that has recently favored words like pedestrians.
The German Road Safety Council, which according to the announcement has come to the conclusion that walking is the most natural form of mobility, also likes to avoid the word pedestrian in favor of those on foot. One is not doing anything wrong with the term pedestrian if one points out its pallor and lack of strength in its expression. In Bavarian, the idioms about walking are particularly vivid. They describe the walking process in all its shades with a sometimes ironic, but always masterful precision. If someone goes bad, they say: “He’s hating like an idiot!” Or: “The Mairin has bad walking gear!” Or also: “Toni’s asking Hax noche, he’s hopping!” That means he limps. On the other side are the academic language innovators, for whom even pedestrians don’t sound fair enough. They are already bringing pedestrians into play.
Pen
Former SPD leader Franz Müntefering said in an interview with SZ how much demographics concern him. He said: “Today people no longer go into work at 14, as I did back then, but on average at 24, because many people are studying. When I started working in my metal processing company in 1954, the 42-hour week still existed.” Many people today no longer know the word pen. When Müntefering was a monastery, this meant that he was still an apprentice or apprentice. In Bavaria, the diminutive form Stifte (Stifti) can be heard here and there; in the building trade there was the Maurersteft. Is the pen head, also known as the pen head, related to this? The hair is cut so short that it sticks out from the head like a pin. The minimal hairstyle could also be related to the apprentice, who still has to learn a lot on the job.