Sunday, February 27, 2005

Ode to the Umlaut

I just recently returned from a visit to Non-Scarlett GF's residence in Germany. Everything was nice (except for the weather) and the old socialist-democratic system of governance is sputtering along. So, yay for them.

The visit did remind me how much I wish the English language had embraced the umlaut (Ä, Ö, and Ü) back in its formative days. As of now, the only real examples of umlaut usage in our collective mother tongue are "Motörhead" and "Crüe." This is a damn shame. Let us all embrace the double-dotted wonder that is the umlaut.

I must emphasize, however, that I am not advocating that we go apeshit with umlauts like the Finns. The Finns, bless their pseudo-nordic souls, don't know when to stop. Take this example from the Mäntsälä-lehti newspaper:

Näin totesivat luennoitsijat limnologi Juha Keto ja ympäristösihteeri Katariina Serenius Sälinkään kylätoimintaryhmän järjestämässä teemaillassa viime tiistaina.

Jesus H. Christ. Multiple flags on the play: excessive umlaut usage; absurdly long verbage with improper consonant-to-vowel ratio. Fifteen yard penalty, still second down.