But generally it is used to refer to any form of crisis in the finance markets.  It is, for example, used to describe the inflation of 1929 but also the situation in the Netherlands in the 1630s.

It was selected by the Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache to be the “Wort des Jahres” (Word of the Year) in 2008.

Coupled with this is the “Unwort des Jahres” of the same year: Notleidene Banken.

This term is ironically used to talk about the banking situation in 2008, as many banks had to be “rescued” by their relevant national governments.

Previously many banks had been making large profits and even after the crisis were still paying their managers high bonuses, whilst at the same time accepting state help.

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Teuro is a so-called “Portmanteau” and is made up of the words “teuer” (expensive) and “Euro”.

It refers to the feeling that people have in Germany that things became more expensive after the Euro was introduced at the beginning of 2002.

Part of the problem is caused by people dividing by 2, whereas the exact exchange rate was 1.95583.  But in many areas – eating out being one of the most common examples – the prices were noticed to have gone up considerably.  It is often commented, that the prices were almost the same figures in Euro as in DM – just with a different currency sign.

Another factor is that price rises since 2002 go much faster, as increasing a price by 1EUR is a lot more than increasing by 1DM.

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Das alte Europa (“old Europe”) was a phrase used by Donald Rumsfeld in reference to the countries France and Germany who were against the war in Iraq at the time.

Today it can refer to Western Europe to distinguish it from the Central or Eastern European countries.

The phrase was also used by Karl Marx to refer a Europe with a ruling elite – as was the case in most countries in the 19th Century.

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Klimakatastrophe is a word that became popular in 2007 to describe the effects of climate change.  Whether it be natural disasters, global warming, or melting icecaps – they are all grouped as part of the Klimakatastrophe.

Although environmental issues have played an important role for the last 20 years in Germany, a number of events in the past few years and media coverage such as the film Eine unbequeme Wahrheit (An Inconvenient Truth), have served to highlight the them even further.

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The word Fanmeile is used to describe an area where fans of a large sport event can gather to watch it on large screens.  It became popular when such areas were set up for Euro 2006 in major German cities.  These areas were intended for people without tickets for the matches, but ended up also being events in themselves.

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In 2005 Angela Merkel was elected the first German Bundeskanzlerin – the word is constructed by taking the word for Chancellor, Bundeskanzler, and adding the -in to make a female form out of it.

Although Frau Merkel is addressed as “Frau Bundeskanzlerlin”, other forms of the word have not been changed.  For example, she works in the Bundeskanzleramt.

When talking about her as one of the many elected leaders of Germany, she is referred to as the 8th Bundeskanzler, ie. in the masculine form.

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Hartz IV is the name given to the financial support for the long-term unemployed.  The term derives from the name of the person who led the commission to reform, amongst other things, unemployment benefits.

The length of time that someone is unemployed before they stop receiving normal unemployment benefit (Arbeitslosengeld) and receive Hartz IV instead depends on a number of factors such as their age and the length of time that they have paid unemployment insurance (Arbeitslosenversicherung).

The amount of support that someone receives depends on factors such as the size of the flat that is considered to be large enough for them, any savings they may have, how many people are dependent on their income, etc.

For example, the allowance for food is set at 4EUR per person per day, which led to the publication of a so-called “Hartz IV menu” earlier this year.

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