Comment on Elon Musk Had Grok Rewrite Wikipedia. It Calls Hitler “The Führer.”
freebee@sh.itjust.works 1 week agoNot German but moved to Germany. The word is still a normal word, it can be used, only in certain contexts not.
To me it is very very weird.
Especially in a comboword there is 0,0 issue: Reiseführer, Bergführer, etc. The no go zone seems very subtle to me, it’s more about pronunciation and context, not the word itself. Especially the word “Führerschein” is super weird to me when used in regular conversations. I automatically hear translated “license to be the Führer”, but it just means driver’s license and nothing else and no one finds it weird.
"Führerschein" is super weird to me when used in regular conversations. I automatically hear translated "license to be the Führer"
Not weird for point of view of polish speaker - we use same word "prowadzić" for driving a car, running a company or just leading someone to some destination. From that perspective concept of leading a country and "leading" a car is perfectly intuitive
Führer means driver also. So literally Driver’s license.
RedstoneValley@sh.itjust.works 1 week ago
Exactly this. If you use it as part of a compound word or as a verb it’s totally fine. However “der Führer” (the Führer) is exclusively used to describe Hitler, and it usually has a negative or ironic vibe depending on who says it.
About the Führerschein… führen and fahren have the same etymological root… It is still used in “Führen eines Fahrzeugs” which simply means “driving a car” and that is where the term comes from.
jdhdbdk@lemmy.world 1 week ago
At least in Austria it is also used outside of compound words. E.g. when talking about the Bergführer, you still mean the compound word, but the word “Führer” alone is still used in this context extensively. But of course it all depends on context.