People who know me will understand why this has left me speechless with laughter.
For those who don't, a brief and hopefully illustrative anecdote. Yesterday I worked a job with Film, a great woman who jokes that she never finishes a sentence. As we were changing out of our work duds at the end of the night, she was trying to tell a story, and not succeeding very well, and our manager was goading her so that Film would get flustered and start making up words. I can't stand it, I finally said. Oh yeah, Film said, you're one of those word people. This must be awful for you.
My favorite line in the article:
Unveiled in 1998, Germans have had seven years to get used to the changes. But a survey carried out at the beginning of August showed that two-thirds of Germans were still using the old spelling system and only one in five had made the full switch.And I wonder why people, when they write to me, always apologize for their spelling and grammar.
