(Ver)schlimmbesserung
[For some reason, this little piece keeps getting trashed in its 2006 posting. So I am reposting it here, deleting the original entry.]
Schlimmbesserung is a rare, but useful German term to designate an effort to make something better that actually makes things worse. According to Sebastiano Timpanaro, the brilliant Italian philologist, the term originally derived from the exacting discipline of textual criticism. During classical and medieval times all texts had to be copied by hand. This process led to several recurrent problems. One of them was the tendency of the copyist to replace a less familiar term with one that is more usual. For example, in copying a Latin text the scribe might substitute mysterium for ministerium. It is the job of the text editor to detect such "improvement" and to reverse them.
An ordinary example is the eighteenth-century correction of asparagus to sparrow-grass. (This change also illustrates the principle of folk etymology.)
The concept has a wide application to technology (inter alia). For example, my TV remote stopped working. The cable guy brought a replacement. But in this one the "mute" button doesn't work--for me a significant handicap.
The principle is also illustrated by a joke. A recent immigrant presents himself before a judge requesting that his name be legally changed. Looking at the papers, the magistrate noted that the applicant was one Boris Tufschitzky. "Yes, young man, I can imagine that in your native land the name of, er, Tufschitky might be a suitable, even distinguished surname. In this country, I fear that matters are otherwise. The court applauds your wish to acculturate. Just tell the clerk what new name you have chosen and we will effect the change."
Response: "Oh, your honor will love new name--very American. I wish to be called Joe--Joe Tufschitzky.
[One German speaker holds that properly the term should be "Verschlimmbesserung," with the prefix. That may be so, but the longer form seems too cumbersome.)
Schlimmbesserung is a rare, but useful German term to designate an effort to make something better that actually makes things worse. According to Sebastiano Timpanaro, the brilliant Italian philologist, the term originally derived from the exacting discipline of textual criticism. During classical and medieval times all texts had to be copied by hand. This process led to several recurrent problems. One of them was the tendency of the copyist to replace a less familiar term with one that is more usual. For example, in copying a Latin text the scribe might substitute mysterium for ministerium. It is the job of the text editor to detect such "improvement" and to reverse them.
An ordinary example is the eighteenth-century correction of asparagus to sparrow-grass. (This change also illustrates the principle of folk etymology.)
The concept has a wide application to technology (inter alia). For example, my TV remote stopped working. The cable guy brought a replacement. But in this one the "mute" button doesn't work--for me a significant handicap.
The principle is also illustrated by a joke. A recent immigrant presents himself before a judge requesting that his name be legally changed. Looking at the papers, the magistrate noted that the applicant was one Boris Tufschitzky. "Yes, young man, I can imagine that in your native land the name of, er, Tufschitky might be a suitable, even distinguished surname. In this country, I fear that matters are otherwise. The court applauds your wish to acculturate. Just tell the clerk what new name you have chosen and we will effect the change."
Response: "Oh, your honor will love new name--very American. I wish to be called Joe--Joe Tufschitzky.
[One German speaker holds that properly the term should be "Verschlimmbesserung," with the prefix. That may be so, but the longer form seems too cumbersome.)
Labels: false improvements
posted by Dyneslines at 7:51 AM
4 Comments:
In computer technology there is a term called "creeping featurism" that refers to the tendency of software program developers to make changes and keep adding new features in an attempt to make the software better, but too often this causes the software to become more unreliable and harder to use.
By the way, the most likely reason your mute button on the cable TV remote doesn't work is because the cable guy was too lazy to program it for your particular TV set.
You can probably program the cable remote by finding the list of TV sets (either printed on a paper list that came in the remote control box or in a list on the cable company Web site) and then following the programming instructions, which normally involve typing in a special sequence of key strokes on the remote control.
There is a German verb “verschlimmbessern” and a corresponding noun “Verschlimmbesserung”. I presume that “schlimmbesserung” is a pseudo-German English word like “deutschmark”.
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm:
verschlimmbessern, verb. etwas verschlechtern unter dem scheine es verbessern zu wollen. ein von Lichtenberg [1742 – 1799] gemachtes wort. Campe hat es nicht aufgenommen 'weil es zu schlecht sei' (vorr. 1, xiii), er schlägt statt dessen zerbessern vor. der ausdruck ist aber doch volksthümlich geworden. so benutzt ihn Passow gr. wb. vorr. xvi.
verschlimmbesserung, f.: der 'jetztzeitigen' verschlimmbesserung der sprache, durch der schule zu früh entlaufene und in unwissenheit herangewachsene knaben. Schopenhauer [1788 –1860] parerga u. paralipom. 446.
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Verschlimmbesserung
There is a German verb “verschlimmbessern” and a corresponding noun “Verschlimmbesserung”. I presume that “schlimmbesserung” is a pseudo-German English word like “deutschmark”.
Deutsches Wörterbuch von Jacob Grimm und Wilhelm Grimm:
verschlimmbessern, verb. etwas verschlechtern unter dem scheine es verbessern zu wollen. ein von Lichtenberg [1742 – 1799] gemachtes wort. Campe hat es nicht aufgenommen 'weil es zu schlecht sei' (vorr. 1, xiii), er schlägt statt dessen zerbessern vor. der ausdruck ist aber doch volksthümlich geworden. so benutzt ihn Passow gr. wb. vorr. xvi.
verschlimmbesserung, f.: der 'jetztzeitigen' verschlimmbesserung der sprache, durch der schule zu früh entlaufene und in unwissenheit herangewachsene knaben. Schopenhauer [1788 –1860] parerga u. paralipom. 446.
http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Verschlimmbesserung
I appreciate these learned and authoritative comments. I first leaned of the shortened form "Schlimmbesserung" from a book by Sebastiano Timpanaro, an Italian philologist, so perhaps the truncation (aka "slimming") started there.
Also, is it possible that "Schlimmbesserung" is itself a Verschlimmbesserung?
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