Capital Sharp S (ẞ) now officially included in German Spelling Rules - after more than a Century of Debattes

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Jun 30, 2017 12:39 AM

removed-user

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Since I know next to nothing about German linguistics I'm just gonna nod my head figuratively

Jun 30, 2017 2:12 AM

Lavendarjosh

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Well, it still looks out of place, but it was actually overdue, for the reasons you already stated.

Jun 30, 2017 8:37 AM

Zees

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I still remember my German teacher saying ß (I only have to hit Alt Gr + Á btw) is slowly dying out because it's part of the German language's modernization process...

Then again, my German teacher is retarded.

I also always used 'ß' when I could, idk why but I like small unique features in languages. I also still spell every English word with 'ou' (the British way) even though I'm used to American spellings for the same reason. Armour just sounds better and nicer than armor.

Jun 30, 2017 9:24 AM

Mikasa

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I was hoping they'd just get rid of that shitty letter. It looks like a B.

End Zionazism

Jun 30, 2017 9:36 AM

swirlydragon

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Why does it matter anyway?
You can always replace ẞ with ss
Tho some spellings use ẞ only, like dreiẞig for instance, but I think that's stupid

Join Emilia's self-proclaimed knights club if you are a fellow Emilia fan

Jun 30, 2017 10:11 AM

Lost_Viking

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Schieße! ALT + 7838 didn't work for me, it's actually ALT + 0223.

Jun 30, 2017 12:00 PM

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spuukiebuugi said:
Since I know next to nothing about German linguistics I'm just gonna nod my head figuratively

The Letter ß represents the "[s]" sound as in "pass", "set" and "less". While before the Reform of 1996, more Words had been written in German and Austrian Standard German with the Letter ß, it's still in Use if the Vowel before is long and in Family Names.
The big News is that despite the Death Declaration of some People for a seemingly useless Letter - after all, Switzerland and Liechtenstein have both abolished the Latter in their official Spelling - and after so much Time even after the Capital Sharp S (ẞ) has become an Unicode Character in 2008, it is only now a Part of the official Rules for most of the German Sprachraum (Language Area). The biggest Argument for not having introduced it had always been that it doesn't appear naturally, since no Word begins with a Sharp S (ß).

Lavendarjosh said:
Well, it still looks out of place, but it was actually overdue, for the reasons you already stated.

You're right; I wished they would have made it a bit wider, since it still strikes out as rather small compared to most other capitalized Letters. I wonder whether the Schools will teach writing the Capital Sharp S (ẞ) in both Print and Cursive Handwriting and how it will look.

Zees said:
I still remember my German teacher saying ß (I only have to hit Alt Gr + Á btw) is slowly dying out because it's part of the German language's modernization process...

Nope, the ß won't die any soon and with the Capital Sharp S (ẞ), it is likely that it will even get a Renaissance. The only Problem is, that it's hard to type on a Phone or on a Tablet, if Auto-Correction doesn't have the Word. But the Mobile Digital Market isn't going to overtake the Print Market anytime soon, plus I can't imagine Editors really wanting to type everything on those "Smart" Devices rather than using a proper Keyboard.

Mikasa said:
I was hoping they'd just get rid of that shitty letter. It looks like a B.

You ain't no German!

swirlydragon said:
Why does it matter anyway?
You can always replace ẞ with ss
Tho some spellings use ẞ only, like dreiẞig for instance, but I think that's stupid

Read the OP. It's to avoid Ambiguity. Also, it's quite odd if you for Example have to officially get another Note in Austria telling you that in one Identification Document, the Letter ß has been replaced with "SS" to keep it capitalized, because otherwise they would have suspected a Forgery.

Lost_Viking said:
Schieße! ALT + 7838 didn't work for me, it's actually ALT + 0223.

To be fair, ALT + 7838 for the Capital Sharp S (ẞ) doesn't work for me either. Your Combination brings out the normal ß for me.

NoboruJun 30, 2017 12:05 PM

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Jun 30, 2017 12:13 PM

traed

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My keyboard hates alt codes even though I have international keyboard on

This helps in cases I can't
http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/german.htm

Zees said:

I also always used 'ß' when I could, idk why but I like small unique features in languages. I also still spell every English word with 'ou' (the British way) even though I'm used to American spellings for the same reason. Armour just sounds better and nicer than armor.

I use British spelling too.

Jun 30, 2017 12:14 PM

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Lost_Viking

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I wonder if Merkel forced them to change "ss" to "ẞ" because "ss" reminded her of the Nazi Schutzstaffel and she wants to stamp out nationalism? Time to put on my Super Male Vitality™ Tin Foil Hat sold in the Alex Jones store!

Jun 30, 2017 1:10 PM

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FragMentized

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What was stoping you from capitalizing it anyways?
Does that make much difference?

For once I thought It was a new letter lol

Today they say you're crazy, tomorrow they will say you're a genious.

Jun 30, 2017 3:50 PM

#12

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traed said:
My keyboard hates alt codes even though I have international keyboard on

This helps in cases I can't
http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/german.htm

Did you try the Numpad Numbers?

Also, good Site; just a bit too bad that it's missing the Alt Codes for the Capital Sharp S. The one mentioned on German News Sites about ALT + 7838 doesn't work for me (I can just type Shift + AltGr + ß).

Lost_Viking said:
I wonder if Merkel forced them to change "ss" to "ẞ" because "ss" reminded her of the Nazi Schutzstaffel and she wants to stamp out nationalism? Time to put on my Super Male Vitality™ Tin Foil Hat sold in the Alex Jones store!

lol ofc and she has ordered us to write every "ss" as ß again.

Frag- said:
What was stoping you from capitalizing it anyways?
Does that make much difference?

For once I thought It was a new letter lol

The official Rules which used to say that you had to replace ß with SS when capitalized. It makes a huge Difference, because Identity Documents with Words that have a ß can now be officially fully capitalized.

No, it's pretty old:

"GROSS" (BIG) with double "s" looks simply gross, so I am more than thankful that I can now officially write it as "GROẞ" in All-Caps Style.

NoboruJun 30, 2017 3:54 PM

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Jun 30, 2017 4:28 PM

#13

traed

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Noboru said:

traed said:
My keyboard hates alt codes even though I have international keyboard on

This helps in cases I can't
http://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/german.htm

Okay now it works. I dont know why it didnt before.
left alt + 0223 = ß
left alt + 225 = ß
left alt + 7838 = ₧ .. nope.. what is that the symbol for rupees?

right alt (it's alt gr for you) + s = ß

It's actually the small one i cant find hah

That site even has a Japanese keyboard on it although hard to use.

Jun 30, 2017 4:34 PM

#14

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traed said:

right alt (it's alt gr for you) + s = ß

It's actually the small one i cant find hah

That site even has a Japanese keyboard on it although hard to use.

Thought it was called AltGr everywhere + that's the Combination for international US Keyboards.

I don't know about the big one, though.

Japanese can also be typed with the IME if I recall correctly.

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Jun 30, 2017 4:44 PM

#15

traed

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Noboru said:

traed said:

right alt (it's alt gr for you) + s = ß

It's actually the small one i cant find hah

That site even has a Japanese keyboard on it although hard to use.

Ah right, yeah i have it set to US international. Too bad I cant type cyrilic characters that way

It just says alt on my keyboard. The Gr is probably short for German.

Jul 1, 2017 8:35 AM

#16

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traed said:

Ah right, yeah i have it set to US international. Too bad I cant type cyrilic characters that way

It just says alt on my keyboard. The Gr is probably short for German.

There's always the Possibility to order a Keyboard for any Region you want.

AltGr stands for "Alt Graph" and it's the Modifier Key which uses the second or third written Option for a Key (default ones are usually bigger and on the left Side).

GR (.gr) is the Country Code for Greece, while Germany's are D (Car Sign), DE (.de) and DEU.

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Jul 12, 2017 8:49 AM

#17

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Added a News Article in English in the OP.

Also, the Letter ß is actually a Ligature of ſ (long S) and ʒ (Z or TS):

ſ + ʒ = ſʒ = ß

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