Anyone out there want to explain what’s going on with this billboard? Any of you German speakers? Mathias?
It’s a serious question. 24 letters? In a row? I mean, I understand that it takes a lot of material to make a space bar, and maybe after the war it was just too expensive, so you had to economize or something. But it’s 2007. People are driving past this thing at 50 kilometers per hour. (Maybe 55, but never more than that, I swear.) Would it kill you people to break this into, like, three or four smaller, more easily digestible words?
Also: Unabhängigkeitserklärung? That’s just made up, right?
Right?
danny, the champion of the world 
February 13, 2007 at 6:14 pm
declaration of independence —
die Unabhängigkeitserklärung
1 hit.
The New English-German Dictionary
February 13, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Oh yeah?? I’ll raise you 39 letters – Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz – which apparently means
“beef labeling regulation & delegation of supervision law”. German Word of the Year 1999, people! (And what’s that award about, anyway?)
February 13, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Alright, you win. But here’s another good one……
Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaftskapitän, which means “Danube steamship company captain.”
What IS IT with the Germans and their need to combine many words into ONE?
February 13, 2007 at 6:49 pm
I’ve done it! I’ve done it! I found a longer word! HA!
Donaudampfschiffahrtselektrizitätenhauptb-etriebswerkbauunterbeamtengessellschaft (one word, no hyphen)
(die, 80 letters) “association of subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services” (the name of a pre-war club in Vienna).
These Danube steamboat people are ding-a-lings.
February 13, 2007 at 11:05 pm
moral of the story: sometimes the answers to life’s questions are just a web search away.
a web search, and two women with minor insomnia and way, way too much time on their hands.
thanks, people!
February 14, 2007 at 3:18 pm
Just FYI, the a-umlaut (the two little dots on the “a”) could also be spelled “ae” which would give you another letter in the word.
Don’t you love cultural exchanges. I whish Maggie Phillips could see this! I might just tell her about this blog.
And Dan, thanks for making me feel special by giving me a shout-out on your blog!
Now I am infamous!