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"Über alles" will be primarily associated with Hitler's anthem of the Third Reich by most native speakers of German who know some history. Not a good choice for

"Über alles" will be primarily associated with Hitler's anthem of the Third Reich by most native speakers of German who know some history. Not a good choice for a title.

naiv 13y ago
yes, I thought it would be some storage reinvented by Aryans
- codebolt 13y ago
  Network storage macht frei.
- selectstar 13y ago
  Every American will think it's California... Start typing Uber A... into google and what do you get?
  - sneak 13y ago
    "Uber" is a misspelling. The word is über, or ueber.
tezza 13y ago
Yes a very poor choice of phrase, esp when he could've used anything else. He's not alone ; this issue came up just yesterday: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/davidbolt/100071146/how-a-nazi-word-ended-my-career-before-it-began/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/davidbolt/100071146/how...
- Caturday 13y ago
  That's interesting. The word 'Sonderkommando' has no negative connotation at all in German. Is it something specific to how the British look at WW2? Or is it just the usually outrage between parties?
  - tobiasu 13y ago
    Yes it has. Being German, please google it. The Sonderkommando was a special group of prisoners at Auschwitz who had to prepare and cleanup the extermination of millions of prisoners. Their job was to carry the dead from the gas chambers into the ovens. They were recycled every 3 months or so by a fresh Sonderkommando, whose first job was to murder their predecessors. They also made history by starting the only counter-attack at the camp, blowing up one of the gas chambers. You can write "Deutschland ueber alles" all day, that's a minor issue. But using Sonderkommando in the wrong context can cause quite a stir.
grn 13y ago
Do Germans really associate that phrase mostly with Hitler? I find it quite surprising because despite not being German (nor German-speaking) I know that this phrase comes from the first verse of the Deutschlandlied.
- fabian2k 13y ago
  While the origins of the phrase are not tied to the Nazis, it has become associated with them. It was originally about the unification of Germany, but it is viewed quite differently now and certainly associated with the far right or the extreme right. The verse of the Deutschlandlied that contains it is also no longer used, only the third verse is the national hymn.
- Caturday 13y ago
  Unless the author wanted to imply that Seagate should seek to eradicate any other kind of harddisk interface with zealot-like madness, he shouldn't have used that phrase. Really, the first second I opened the website I noticed this poor choice of words. And yes, I am German.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
buyx 13y ago
Since the article was written in English, for an English speaking audience, who consider generally "über alles" to not be particularly offensive anymore (it has come to mean something like "all conquering"). I don't think it was a poor choice of title at all, especially since it sums up the tone of his article. It's quite unfortunate that the far-right in Germany has since appropriated the phrase, but it's been appropriated differently by English-speakers. Censoring people based on a usage that is foreign to them is a little harsh.
- justin66 13y ago
  > it's been appropriated differently by English-speakers I'm an English speaker from the American midwest and I still think of it as an (I always assumed ironic) reference to Nazi supremacism when I see it. I'm not offended by it but it always struck me as a strange joke. "This thing is so great it's Nazi great!" Fantastic. It's interesting to me that that's not the intent. It's a reference to the phrase "Deutschland Over Everything Else," which is either a Nazi thing or a merely German nationalist thing, depending on the context and intent. I can see why a German person might want to "take it back" and make it not mean something fascist, but why would anyone outside of that context even bother? > Censoring people Konstruktor was pointing out a flaw, rightly or wrongly, but not censoring. He doesn't have that power here.

"Über alles" will be primarily associated with Hitler's anthem of the Third Reich by most native speakers of German who know some history. Not a good choice for a title.

naiv 13y ago

yes, I thought it would be some storage reinvented by Aryans

codebolt 13y ago
Network storage macht frei.
selectstar 13y ago
Every American will think it's California... Start typing Uber A... into google and what do you get?
- sneak 13y ago
  "Uber" is a misspelling. The word is über, or ueber.

tezza 13y ago

Yes a very poor choice of phrase, esp when he could've used anything else. He's not alone ; this issue came up just yesterday: http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/davidbolt/100071146/how-a-nazi-word-ended-my-career-before-it-began/ http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/davidbolt/100071146/how...

Caturday 13y ago
That's interesting. The word 'Sonderkommando' has no negative connotation at all in German. Is it something specific to how the British look at WW2? Or is it just the usually outrage between parties?
- tobiasu 13y ago
  Yes it has. Being German, please google it. The Sonderkommando was a special group of prisoners at Auschwitz who had to prepare and cleanup the extermination of millions of prisoners. Their job was to carry the dead from the gas chambers into the ovens. They were recycled every 3 months or so by a fresh Sonderkommando, whose first job was to murder their predecessors. They also made history by starting the only counter-attack at the camp, blowing up one of the gas chambers. You can write "Deutschland ueber alles" all day, that's a minor issue. But using Sonderkommando in the wrong context can cause quite a stir.

grn 13y ago

Do Germans really associate that phrase mostly with Hitler? I find it quite surprising because despite not being German (nor German-speaking) I know that this phrase comes from the first verse of the Deutschlandlied.

fabian2k 13y ago
While the origins of the phrase are not tied to the Nazis, it has become associated with them. It was originally about the unification of Germany, but it is viewed quite differently now and certainly associated with the far right or the extreme right. The verse of the Deutschlandlied that contains it is also no longer used, only the third verse is the national hymn.
Caturday 13y ago
Unless the author wanted to imply that Seagate should seek to eradicate any other kind of harddisk interface with zealot-like madness, he shouldn't have used that phrase. Really, the first second I opened the website I noticed this poor choice of words. And yes, I am German.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

buyx 13y ago

Since the article was written in English, for an English speaking audience, who consider generally "über alles" to not be particularly offensive anymore (it has come to mean something like "all conquering"). I don't think it was a poor choice of title at all, especially since it sums up the tone of his article. It's quite unfortunate that the far-right in Germany has since appropriated the phrase, but it's been appropriated differently by English-speakers. Censoring people based on a usage that is foreign to them is a little harsh.

justin66 13y ago
> it's been appropriated differently by English-speakers I'm an English speaker from the American midwest and I still think of it as an (I always assumed ironic) reference to Nazi supremacism when I see it. I'm not offended by it but it always struck me as a strange joke. "This thing is so great it's Nazi great!" Fantastic. It's interesting to me that that's not the intent. It's a reference to the phrase "Deutschland Over Everything Else," which is either a Nazi thing or a merely German nationalist thing, depending on the context and intent. I can see why a German person might want to "take it back" and make it not mean something fascist, but why would anyone outside of that context even bother? > Censoring people Konstruktor was pointing out a flaw, rightly or wrongly, but not censoring. He doesn't have that power here.