Random thought

[pne]

This morning in the bus I saw this image with an "80 m" sign underneath, and my first thought was "Lichtzeichenanlage in 80 m Entfernung".

My next thought was how much like a civil servant I was speaking—I don't think many Germans would say "Lichtzeichenanlage" (light signal installation) but would simply call the thing an "Ampel" (traffic light). "Lichtzeichenanlage", while being the formal name of the sign and, presumably, of the device, is "bureaucratese": a dialect marked especially by Germanisms rather than loanwords (another common one is "Fernsprecher" (far-speaker) instead of the more usual "Telefon").

Comments

[fweebles.livejournal.com]

Is there a colloquial word for Fernseher? That's the only one I ever learned, but I also learned Telefon and not Fernsprecher.

Fernseher

[pne.livejournal.com]

No - Fernseher is the most common word, I'd say.

Well, there's Glotze, but that'd translate as telly or boob tube more than television (set).

Bureaucratic might make it into a Fernsehgerät or possibly a Fernsehempfänger, though (Gerät = device; Empfänger = receiver). Not sure about that. Ah, GEZ (http://www.gez.de/) (who collect the money you have to pay if you have a radio or TV set) call them Fernsehgerät. Fernseher is the colloquial (and much more common) form.

Re: Fernseher

[pne.livejournal.com]

There's also Rechner for Computer/PC ("peh-tseh"), but it's not as widespread, I'd say - and feels more colloquial.