4 ms·

I also see many people using the % or "z. B." (zum Beispiel, meaning for example) wrongly in German. Corretly, the % should have a space like this: 10 %, not 10

by shafyy 2y ago

I also see many people using the % or "z. B." (zum Beispiel, meaning for example) wrongly in German. Corretly, the % should have a space like this: 10 %, not 10% (as it is in English). "z. B." also should have a space, but is often used as "z.B.", like the "e.g." in English. However, as mentioned in the article, not clear to me if this is in fact because of the English influence or some other reason.

pronik 2y ago
Sometimes, those rules just don't make any sense. I'm especially amused about the euro sign in German which by its whole design and intention is supposed to be written before the number (€50,00), but is instead written behind the number with a space included (50,00 €). The former looks way better and more concise for me, but maybe the reason is just a historical one, the Germans have been writing "50 DM" for decades after all. On a different note, it's somewhat amusing that "i.e.", "e.g." and "etc." are considered English without any clear alternative in the language, while otherwise Latin-loving Germans haven't adopted those at all (in fairness, "d.h.", "bspw." and "usw." are just fine and I appreciate it when real German is used consistently).
- isametry 2y ago
  > which by its whole design and intention is supposed to be written before the number (€50,00) What makes you think that? The intention of the € symbol is to be used exactly like other currency notations before it in each respective language. In English it’s before the number, but in many others including German, it is after (50,00 DM). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_sign#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_sign#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_the_euro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_the_euro
- bonoboTP 2y ago
  € is a unit. Would you write you're ft6 tall or weigh lbs170 or that it's °F77 outside? The weird and exceptional thing is rather that $ is put before the number, which is out of step with pronunciation.
  - pronik 2y ago
    And still, dollars, pound, yen and basically any currency with a "funny" symbol put it in front. Seems it's not about pronounciation anymore, but more about tradition.

by shafyy 2y ago

pronik 2y ago

Sometimes, those rules just don't make any sense. I'm especially amused about the euro sign in German which by its whole design and intention is supposed to be written before the number (€50,00), but is instead written behind the number with a space included (50,00 €). The former looks way better and more concise for me, but maybe the reason is just a historical one, the Germans have been writing "50 DM" for decades after all. On a different note, it's somewhat amusing that "i.e.", "e.g." and "etc." are considered English without any clear alternative in the language, while otherwise Latin-loving Germans haven't adopted those at all (in fairness, "d.h.", "bspw." and "usw." are just fine and I appreciate it when real German is used consistently).

isametry 2y ago
> which by its whole design and intention is supposed to be written before the number (€50,00) What makes you think that? The intention of the € symbol is to be used exactly like other currency notations before it in each respective language. In English it’s before the number, but in many others including German, it is after (50,00 DM). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_sign#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_sign#Use https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_the_euro https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_and_the_euro
bonoboTP 2y ago
€ is a unit. Would you write you're ft6 tall or weigh lbs170 or that it's °F77 outside? The weird and exceptional thing is rather that $ is put before the number, which is out of step with pronunciation.
- pronik 2y ago
  And still, dollars, pound, yen and basically any currency with a "funny" symbol put it in front. Seems it's not about pronounciation anymore, but more about tradition.