Personally, I think German is the most flexible of all languages. It is so easy to combine seemingly unrelated nouns to form a complex word, such as:

Donau­dampf­schifffahrts­gesellschafts­kapitän

or the simpler form:

Donau­dampf­schiff­kapitän

Since Germany has finally purged the 63 letter monstrosity Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz.

Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitaenswitwe is in with a shout as perhaps the longest remaining compound noun.

This handy term means "widow of a Danube Steamboat Company captain", and no doubt pops up regularly in everyday conversation. According to the Telegraph's Teutonic correspondent, a popular parlour game in Germany involves creating ever-longer words associated with the Danube Steamboat Company, such as the magnificent Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft, which translates as the “Association for Subordinate Officials of the Head Office Management of the Danube Steamboat Electrical Services”.

A more likely contender for the longest word in German is Kraftfahrzeughaftpflichtversicherung ("automobile liability insurance"), which actually appears in the dictionary.

/reference: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/06/05/rindfleischetikettierungsueberwachungsaufgabenuebertragungsgesetz_consigned_to_history/

10 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

to make themselves look incontinent.

Oh really, using depends are they?

 

 Oops, I see charliearon beat me to it...

Edited March 8, 20206 yr by Penzoil3

48 minutes ago, Penzoil3 said:

Oh really, using depends are they?

 

 Oops, I see charliearon beat me to it...

A day late and a dollar short, Sue! Or is that a dollar Short Sue??

4 hours ago, n4gix said:

Personally, I think German is the most flexible of all languages. It is so easy to combine seemingly unrelated words to form a complex word, such as:

Donau­dampf­schifffahrts­gesellschafts­kapitän

or the simpler form:

Donau­dampf­schiff­kapitän

How about "Niederschlagswassergebühr". That is a municipal tax that I have to pay because rain is falling on my property. The simpler form is any swear word that comes to your mind.

I also like the "Hubschrauber-Außenlast-Löschwasserbehälter", which is otherwise known as a helicopter bucket.

Best regards

Edited March 8, 20206 yr by Lorby_SI

It probably depends on if Sue, is either sewing or sowing !

21 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

How about "Niederschlagswassergebühr". That is a municipal tax that I have to pay because rain is falling on my property. The simpler form is any swear word that comes to your mind.

That seems not quite sane! Here in the U.S. it is much simpler, I am billed for sewage discharge based as a percentage of my actual fresh water usage. Rain and snow are not a factor.

Several winters ago I had a pipe down in my basement rupture from the cold. I never realized that until I received my water bill the next month for $482!!! Sheesh, that really hurt!

How do the authorities determine your "rain disposal charges?" From my brief reading it is based on water that actually makes into the sewer system, so presumably if your property has a lot of grass and the water is absorbed by the ground you don't get charged for that?

I had a pair of pears that I needed to pare but someone took one. 😁

8 hours ago, n4gix said:

Personally, I think German is the most flexible of all languages. It is so easy to combine seemingly unrelated nouns to form a complex word

However, that is quite possibly why WW2 ended up how it did. Their admin departments were too busy typing the names of stuff out to get on with more important things. Allow me to demonstrate... German half-track vehicle name: Sonderkraftfahrzeug 251, equivalent US half-track vehicle name: M3. Even when the Germans abbreviated its name to Sd.Kfz 251, it's still four times longer than the Yank's name for theirs. 🤣

It must be an eminently sensible American thing. Allow me to present people's exhibit number one: Mark Twain's take on abbreviation: 'I never write policeman, because I can get the same money for cop.'

Edited March 9, 20206 yr by Chock

7 hours ago, n4gix said:

How do the authorities determine your "rain disposal charges?" From my brief reading it is based on water that actually makes into the sewer system, so presumably if you property has a lot of grass and the water is absorbed by the ground you don't get charged for that?

Acreage. We have a couple of ponds and a cistern too, but I don't dare challenge the authorities over that. 

It is about sewage of course. We pay about three times the price for sewage than for the amount of fresh water that it is derived from.

Best regards

Edited March 9, 20206 yr by Lorby_SI

16 hours ago, Lorby_SI said:

It is about sewage of course.

Like a lot of threads on AVSIM this has finally turned to crap. Took six pages though.

Edited March 9, 20206 yr by charliearon
Bad boy, Ron!

Umm, Sioux City Sue.

Oh Charlie. 🤣

Forgive me if I missed it but have we covered  "a lot" vs "allot"? This appears quite regularly.

My job on the Council was to allot allotments to quite a lot of people who applied.

A lot of the allotments were allotted. Those left over were not a lot.

 

 

What about those people who say "he could of" instead of "he could have". So widespread both written and oral. Depressing.

1 minute ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

What about those people who say "he could of" instead of "he could have". So widespread both written and oral. Depressing.

Blame it on the apostrophe.

Could've sounds a lot like could of.

Unless you went to a decent Grammar School. Then it was drilled into you.

But agreed, very depressing and irritating.