Back in 2006 I reported on “the insensate rage unleashed in language-loving Germans by the humble apostrophe”; now Philip Oltermann in the Guardian tells us those language-loving Germans are going to have to suck it up:
A relaxation of official rules around the correct use of apostrophes in German has not only irritated grammar sticklers but triggered existential fears around the pervasive influence of English.
Establishments that feature their owners’ names, with signs like “Rosi’s Bar” or “Kati’s Kiosk” are a common sight around German towns and cities, but strictly speaking they are wrong: unlike English, German does not traditionally use apostrophes to indicate the genitive case or possession. The correct spelling, therefore, would be “Rosis Bar”, “Katis Kiosk”, or, as in the title of a recent viral hit, Barbaras Rhabarberbar.
However, guidelines issued by the body regulating the use of Standard High German orthography have clarified that the use of the punctuation mark colloquially known as the Deppenapostroph (“idiot’s apostrophe”) has become so widespread that it is permissible – as long as it separates the genitive ‘s’ within a proper name.
The new edition of the Council for German Orthography’s style guide, which prescribes grammar use at schools and public bodies in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, lists “Eva’s Blumenladen” (Eva’s Flower Shop) and “Peter’s Taverne” (Peter’s Tavern) as usable alternatives, though “Eva’s Brille” (“Eva’s glasses”) remains incorrect. […]
“There is a long tradition of conservative circles fretting about international influences on the German languages,” said Stefanowitsch. “It used to be French, and now it’s mainly English”. The Dortmund-based association Verein Deutsche Sprache tries to counteract the influence of English with an “anglicism index” that proposes alternative German words, such as Klapprechner instead of “laptop” or Puffmais instead of “popcorn”.
Barbaras Rhabarberbar turned up here earlier this year; I’m not sure why “Eva’s Blumenladen” is OK but “Eva’s Brille” isn’t, unless it’s only on signs that you can get away with such horrors. Thanks, Trevor, Nick, and Bonnie!
French used to influence a small segment.
These books
https://www.ggverlag.at/kollektion/simple-und-easy
are for small children.
(I do think that everyone should panic and stop promotion of English:) English globally, Russian within Russia. For the same reason. I like language diversity)
“Eva’s Blumenladen” is the name of a store. “Eva’s Brille” means Eva’s glasses. Common nouns are capitalized in German.
I know that, but it’s not obvious from the article that the law only applies to signs: “guidelines issued by the body regulating the use of Standard High German orthography have clarified that the use of the punctuation mark colloquially known as the Deppenapostroph […] has become so widespread that it is permissible – as long as it separates the genitive ‘s’ within a proper name.”
I’m not sure why “Eva’s Blumenladen” is OK but “Eva’s Brille” isn’t, unless it’s only on signs that you can get away with such horrors.
“Evas Klobrillen” is OK for a sanitary appliance store (a happier name than Bad Design). Also “Evas Grill”. However, cosmopolitan sign-readers might find ambiguity in “Evas Glattbutt” (we’re talking brill here).
I think ‘within a proper name’ means ‘inside the name of (e.g.) a shop’, rather than inside the person’s name. So it’s ok to write down the name of the shop, but not to use an apostrophe in an ordinary possessive phrase.
So the apostrophe is still an error, but it’s not wrong to quote correctly a name that contains an erroneous apostrophe. I guess that can be a useful clarification.