When people talk about Internet language, they usually think about the crippled english from Chats and Emails. But some german words found their way into the internet language. Next to “über” (as in uberh4X0r) the most common german word in IRC channels is ““Moin”. I have seen it in english language IRC channels without people from northern Germany. When I asked if “moin” means something in their language, people said they heard it in some other IRC channel and started using it.
This morning I discovered in the backlog of #bsdaustria x-trem, a true Styrian joining the channel with “Moinsen”, an even more colloquial form of Moin, which IIRC came up in the last 15 years.
I queried google groups, and the first use of “moin” in Usenet i found was 1988 in comp.sys.atari.st, the first use of “Moinsen” in April 1993 in de.soc.studium, the first use in non-german Newsgroups in February 1997 in rec.music.misc.
Unfortunately it is not possible to query for the first usage by an non-german Speaker.
2 thoughts on “Internet Language”
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Another example of german in IRC language:
10:13 < leafy > Scheisse! the new mirror box just diedBTW leafy is from Taiwan.
Moinsen!
Moinsen is quite popular in northern Germany and I guess it originated from up here.
While I was living in the US I’ve heard many german words which became part of the everyday slang. Two of the most interesting ones were Schmutz and Dreck both are german words for dirt. They were used by students and the average 40-year-old-dad. As with most foreign words and things the US guys think they’ve actually invented them.
Same also applies to beer. Just ask the waitress for a local beer but don’t look surprised if she offers you a Guiness or Heiniken.