So it looks like several more newspapers in Germany are abandoning the government-sanctioned spelling reforms, known collectively as the Rechtschreibreform, in effect since 1996.

As someone who learned German under the new rules (which, among other things, cut down on the number of times you have to use the difficult-to-pronounce sharp S sound, written "ß"), this could make my life marginally more difficult.

Still, it's interesting. I don't know what I feel about the rollback. The German goverment probably has no business telling people how to write, and the pre-Rechtschreibreform language is probably in some ways more authentic. On the other hand, it's my understanding that many of these spelling reforms weren't pulled out of thin air: they represent demotic forms that tradition-minded German institutions were stodigly refusing to accept.

All in all, it's actually a moot point. For better or worse, the German language is gradually being supplanted by the much-more-flexible English, forming a German/English pigdin known as "Genglish."

German popular culture is full of terms borrowed from our language. Many advertisements are written in English without translation (unlike in draconian France, where bilingual advertising is required by law). Words like "chill-out area" are casually mixed in with German lyrics in songs.

And, as I write this, two German businessmen in Hamburg are talking to each other in English, unaware of the irony.