Angela Merkel. Photograph by Marcela
Germany has officially adopted the English word “shitstorm” after its use by Angela Merkel, amongst others, over recent years to describe the Eurozone crisis.
The word has been included in Duden, the German equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary, for the 26th edition which went to print last week.
Germany has, however, slightly amended the meaning of the word by defining it more specifically as a controversy on the internet, rather than how it is used in English as a general synonym for a calamity.
The word was celebrated as Aanglicism of the Year by the Uiversity of Hamburg, with Duden describing it as:
Shitstorm: Noun, masculine – a storm of protest in a communications medium of the internet, which is associated in part with insulting remarks.
Another word related to the financial crisis, “stresstest”, was the second most important Anlicism according to the competition.
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