Sign of the Times

by Damon Gambuto     Department: Correlations

The Society of the German Language has chosen its word of the year.  While there were numerous consonant-rich options, I think their choice (along with some other recent news) is reason for optimism.  And the winner is. . .

'Klimakatastrophe'  It means "climate disaster" and was chosen because how well it captures another German word: zeitgeist.  Okay, that's not how they put it, but you get the idea.  Initially, The Society had considered choosing the word for "climate change," but decided to go with the catastrophic version because they felt it captures the gravitas of the current discourse.  "Good on 'em!" says I.  

This fun bit of news, along with the recent reports out of Bali, makes me feel like the world is slowly allowing itself to be inconvenienced by the truth.  

Speaking of which - for some reason Al Gore rubs a lot of people the wrong way, but my primate brain recognizes patterns and the trajectory of the talks after Al's speech Thursday makes me think he deserves some credit.  

Danke schön, Al.

Tags: Al Gore, climate catastrophe, climate change