Every year, Germany’s youth select their annual "Youth Word of the Year", which is voted for by youngsters around the country.
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Previously, Germans wishing to express that they were surprised at the insanity or absurdity of something would say: “Das ist verrückt."
But young Germans have a better option, “Das crazy,” which bypasses the grammatically correct phrase construction by waving Auf Wiedersehen to the “ist”.
Now, “Das crazy” has been voted this year’s Youth Word of the Year, announced at the Frankfurt Book Fair by the Langenscheidt Verlag publishing house, which organizes the vote every year. The term was selected through an online vote open to young people aged 11 to 20, with two million people taking part this year.
According to the publisher, “Das crazy” is an "all-purpose weapon", typically used when someone doesn’t know what to say, doesn’t feel like responding, or simply wants to remain polite to keep the conversation going.
“Das crazy” took first place with 35.7% of the votes, just ahead of "goonen" and "checkst du."
"Goonen" is a slang term for prolonged masturbation or excessive pornography consumption. In a statement, the Langenscheidt committee said it wanted to be transparent about sexual terms, but also warned that excessive self-gratification can lead to dopamine addiction and lead to unhealthy expectations when it comes to sexuality.
As for "checkst du" (literally: "Do you check?"), it’s a variation on "Do you understand?" - used at the end of the sentence to make sure that the other person is still on board.
Langenscheidt noted that the results highlight the strong influence of the English language and the trend toward linguistic simplification. They also capture the influence of internet culture on languages, as “Das crazy” can be found everywhere on social media platforms.
Moreover, it can also highlight that the world isn’t getting any saner at the moment, meaning that new ways of expressing madness are not only useful but depressingly necessary.
The Youth Word of the Year competition has been going on since 2008 and was only handed over to German youngsters five years ago. Prior to that, anybody could vote. In 2020, the vote was handed over exclusively to those aged between 11 and 20, ensuring that the year’s chosen word genuinely reflects youthful language culture.
Last year, the word “Aura” won Youth Word of the Year. Commonly used to describe a person’s charisma, it succeeded “goofy” in 2023, which referenced the clumsy Disney character to describe someone eccentric or awkward. 2022 had “smash” (picking someone up or having sex with someone, stemming from the dating game “Smash or Pass”); 2021’s youthful triumphant was “cringe” (a descriptive to refer to something or someone as embarrassing); and “lost” was 2020’s winner, referring to a lack of direction or perspective.
