Capital Sharp S "ß" now part of the official German orthography

[TheRealFierce]

[T]https://typography.guru/uploads/monthly_2017_06/strasse.jpg.d3e9ccc42e66648260553cb3a85bcab0.jpg[/T]

[QUOTE]The Council for German Orthography published a new 2017 version of the German orthography. Among the changes is the inclusion of the Capital Sharp S. The German alphabet is now finally complete.

When the German lowercase letter ß (“sharp s”) was standardized and added to all German typefaces around 1900, the addition of a capital version was planned as well. But the introduction was postponed, because the committee couldn’t agree on a design in time. In the end it took over 100 years to get the ball rolling again.

The discussion around the missing uppercase letter started again in the 21st century after changes to the German orthography, which reduced the occurrences of the letter ß, but gave it a more distinct phonetic function. But this function was lost when texts were set in uppercase only and German names became ambiguous as well. So once again, the introduction of a Capital Sharp S was proposed. In 2008 it was added to the Unicode standard and after that type designers could start to add it to their typefaces. More than a thousand new type families containing a Capital Sharp S have been released since then and a keyboard layout with support for the Capital Sharp S was standardized as well.

And even though the letter wasn’t yet part of the official German orthography, more and more people started to use it. The Council for German Orthography as well as the publishers of German dictionaries like Duden had acknowledged the usefulness of a Capital Sharp S years ago, but they couldn’t prescribe the use of a letter that wasn’t available on keyboard and in fonts.

Eight years after the addition to the Unicode, the Council for German Orthography decided that the time was now right for an uppercase ß. They proposed a change to the orthography in 2016 and after the approval process in all the countries using the German language the change became official in June of 2017.[/QUOTE]

[url]https://typography.guru/journal/the-capital-sharp-s-in-now-part-of-the-official-german-orthography-r53/[/url]

[IMG]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Capital_%C3%9F.svg/145px-Capital_%C3%9F.svg.png[/IMG]

gj germany :toot:

[redBadger]

ß is the coolest letter

[Black Pete]

It's like a B but it sounds completely different.

[Xion21]

I didn't know it was formally called the Sharp S. Back when I was in high school, in German class we called it the "Essset." Sorry if I've just horribly offended any German speakers but that's the only way I can think to spell how we pronounced it.

[Mitsuma]

Now where the hell do they want to put that on our keyboard?
Lower case ß is currently right of 0, shift+ß is ?, so they can't put it there without moving ?.

[QUOTE=Xion21;52429478]I didn't know it was formally called the Sharp S. Back when I was in high school, in German class we called it the "Essset." Sorry if I've just horribly offended any German speakers but that's the only way I can think to spell how we pronounced it.[/QUOTE]

"Eszett" is also a word for it. Pretty sure most Germans call it that anyways, personally I dont know anybody who uses "scharfes S" (sharp S).

[Tamschi]

I still read that as 'B' in most fonts :v:

I just tried typing it with alt gr + shift + ß, and as it turns out that's the right combination: ẞẞẞẞẞ
strg + alt + shift + ß works too of course.

Personally I prefer the design that incorporates a modern 'S' as second part of the ligature.

[tnk]

[QUOTE=Mitsuma;52429486]Now where the hell do they want to put that on our keyboard?
Lower case ß is currently right of 0, shift+ß is ?, so they can't put it there without moving ?.[/QUOTE]
According to the article there's a standardized layout with support for it

[Tamschi]

:snip: late

[Chi_DE]

Yaaaaß [:

[WoodenSpoon]

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52429503]:snip: late[/QUOTE]

Don't you mean ßnip?

[ViralHatred]

I only know of the sharp S because of my grandmothers german side and her occasionally muttering "scheiße" which means "shit".

It also amuses me because if you mix up the i and the e "schieße" means "shoot".

[Gmod4ever]

[QUOTE=ViralHatred;52429694]I only know of the sharp S because of my grandmothers german side and her occasionally muttering "scheiße" which means "shit".

It also amuses me because if you mix up the i and the e "schieße" means "shoot".[/QUOTE]

So, does that mean "schieße scheiße" means "shoot shit"?

Because if so, that's amazing. :v:

[Karmah]

[quote][t]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e4/Capital_%C3%9F.svg/145px-Capital_%C3%9F.svg.png[/t][/quote]
This just looks like a 3 but if the top bit wasn't quite feeling it and slouched over like a slinky

[Gorgus]

[QUOTE=Gmod4ever;52430130]So, does that mean "schieße scheiße" means "shoot shit"?

Because if so, that's amazing. :v:[/QUOTE]

Yeah, "Ich schieße scheiße" means "I shoot shit".

[Tamschi]

[QUOTE=Gmod4ever;52430130]So, does that mean "schieße scheiße" means "shoot shit"?

Because if so, that's amazing. :v:[/QUOTE]

Yes, that's exactly it.
It ([editline]edit[/editline] when standing alone like that) even is the imperative mood (though specifically singular and familiar, to be precise).

[Samiam]

[QUOTE=Mitsuma;52429486]Now where the hell do they want to put that on our keyboard?
Lower case ß is currently right of 0, shift+ß is ?, so they can't put it there without moving ?.[/QUOTE]

Could use the Alt key, perhaps. My keyboard layout has Alt-S for ß and Shift-Alt-S for § (whatever that is).

[editline]4th July 2017[/editline]

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52430173]It ([editline]edit[/editline] when standing alone like that) even is the imperative mood (though specifically singular and [B]familiar[/B], to be precise).[/QUOTE]

"Schießen Sie Schieße" has a nice ring to it, I think.

[Tamschi]

[QUOTE=Samiam22;52430211][...] § (whatever that is).[/QUOTE]

A section sign. Here it's almost exclusively used in legal texts to refer to (or title) specific sections, as far as I know.
It's on shift + 3 on usual German keyboards.

[Gorgus]

[QUOTE=Tamschi;52430239]A section sign. Here it's almost exclusively used in legal texts to refer to (or title) specific sections, as far as I know.
It's on shift + 3 on usual German keyboards.[/QUOTE]

It's basically a symbol for "paragraph".

[Gorou]

I've never in my life heard it called "Eszett", those goshdarned northeners and their weird dialects smh. I wonder what nouns start with a sharp S. At least now you have another avenue to give your kids weird names like ßarah or ßtefan.

[pentium]

[U]ßETAMAX[/U]

[Zelpa]

The 1996 German orthography reform was a mistake, it changed words like Kongreßstraße into Kongressstraße. I'm all for capital ẞ and bringing back more ß in general.

[Patrick]

are there any words that actually start with a sharp s?

[Marik Bentusi]

[QUOTE=Zelpa;52430466]The 1996 German orthography reform was a mistake, it changed words like Kongreßstraße into Kongressstraße. I'm all for capital ẞ and bringing back more ß in general.[/QUOTE]

"Kongressstraße" certainly doesn't look pretty, but the pronunciation of unfamiliar words becomes much more intuitive when "ss" can reliably indicate that the preceding vowel is short, and "ß" that it's long.

Since compound words where the first word ends with "ß" and the second word begins with "s" are relatively rare compared to cases where ß/ss can clarify pronunciation, I think it's a sensible change overall.

[FirstWarden]

[QUOTE=Mitsuma;52429486]Now where the hell do they want to put that on our keyboard?
Lower case ß is currently right of 0, shift+ß is ?, so they can't put it there without moving ?.

"Eszett" is also a word for it. Pretty sure most Germans call it that anyways, personally I dont know anybody who uses "scharfes S" (sharp S).[/QUOTE]

I think calling it a sharp S/scharfes S might be more of an Austrian thing. I can't remember a single time I've heard someone call it an "Eszett" around here, everyone calls it a scharfes S instead

[Thelurker1234]

[QUOTE=Pat.Lithium;52430826]are there any words that actually start with a sharp s?[/QUOTE]

It's quite literally a rule not to IIRC.

I cant think of any words that even begin with a double s sound. There might be weird foreign words in german that do but meh

[Headhumpy]

[QUOTE=thelurker1234;52430871]It's quite literally a rule not to IIRC.

I cant think of any words that even begin with a double s sound. There might be weird foreign words in german that do but meh[/QUOTE]

it's useful if you want to shout online though

[Bradyns]

Is there a German word for sizzle.. Like 'Sausage Sizzle'

[Skunky]

Hooray.

[Techbot]

if you have a german keyboard you can type it via alt gr + rshift + ß

[ferrous]

[QUOTE=Bradyns;52431015]Is there a German word for sizzle.. Like 'Sausage Sizzle'[/QUOTE]

Brutzeln?