How the „Deppenleerzeichen“ (idiot’s space) threatens the hyphen – About a punctuation mark threatened with extinction

Author: Kurt Schauer

The „idiot’s apostrophe“ has been known for a long time. Although the German language does not actually provide for such a punctuation mark, the little stroke that separates a possessive S from the noun (e.g. Heinrich’s Fischgeschäft) gains new followers every day. People have almost grown accustomed to it, but now the „idiot’s space“ is increasingly joining in – and for anyone who writes professionally, it is becoming a real challenge.

Deppenleerzeichen – or the game with Lego bricks

„Welt“ editor Matthias Heine gave free rein to his frustration about the idiot’s space in mid-February 2016. The German language, as Vladimir Kaminer once said, is now being treated like Lego bricks, the journalist wrote. Nouns are freely combined, which the German language largely permits, but no longer joined together – as one should do with Lego bricks. The English language is encroaching on German: there, compound words are written separately: „Lego bricks“, for example, comes from Lego bricks. Everywhere in German, the idiot’s space is on the advance. The hyphen, which should actually be used if one does not want to write the words together, is threatened with extinction. Real classics by now are expressions like „Steinofen Pizza“, „6 Korn Flocken“ or „Kaiser Reich“.

Where does the „Deppenleerzeichen“ come from?

In his article, Heine also investigated the origins of the „Deppenleerzeichen“ (idiot’s space). Besides the Anglicization of the German language, he identified three culprits: Firstly, the last spelling reform is to blame, according to the „Welt“ editor. Many expressions, such as „sitzen bleiben“ (to stay seated), which were previously written as one word, are now separated. Secondly, theaters also bear part of the responsibility: institutions like the Maxim Gorki Theater omitted hyphens on their posters and billboards for aesthetic reasons. This led to a habituation effect among people.

Thirdly, and this is why the „Deppenleerzeichen“ has been booming in recent years, the anarchic spelling in social media has largely driven out the hyphen. Heine provides the apt example that on Facebook, a space is sometimes even placed before a comma. In general, it is widespread here to place „Deppenleerzeichen“ before punctuation marks.

What does the rise of the idiot space mean for the writing profession?

The trend on Facebook and co. towards the idiot’s space is, however, a problem for the writing profession – especially for those working in the marketing sector. After all, Facebook posts, for example, are part of what advertisers have to do as standard. Should one perhaps adapt to the language of one’s target audience? Should one capitulate before the idiot’s space, as for example the media journalist Mario Sixtus did in the face of a packet of „Brillen Putztücher“ (glasses cleaning cloths)?

The answer is a clear no. There are no linguistic rules except those that rightly brand the idiot’s space as incorrect. And there is hope anyway, to return once more to the „Welt“ article: Heine closes with a flashback and reminds us that until 1876 and 1901 respectively, when spelling was uniformly regulated, anyone could place spaces as they wished. And yet the concept of uniformity caught on very quickly. Even great authors such as Wilhelm Busch, who demanded that his name be written without a hyphen on street signs, had to comply. Perhaps this will succeed again. The hyphen may be a dying species, but it is not yet dead.

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Kurt Schauer

Managing Director