In this article we see a billboard whose most conspicuous feature is this word:
Steuertemperaturmietensenkung
How is this to be understood?
Screenshot from the ad (source):
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Makes sense to me. When (if that ever happens) the real estate goes down, the rent should go down. This otherwise defeats the point of lowering the real estate tax.– JoshuaNov 1, 2021 at 16:52
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The answers already correctly identify the PR nature of this made-up term. But just as an FYI the "Steuertemperatur" part first made me (native speaker) think "control(ling) temperature", especially since messed up heating is a valid reason to demand lowered rent. Actually this might be an intentional ambiguity 🤔– Tobias KienzlerNov 2, 2021 at 11:37
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@MichaelHardy: Well, you happen to be the one reading this billboard, I see nothing. (Which is rooted in the way internet ads work) So I'd rather encourage you to find a picture of this billboard and upload a screenshot into your question. The given link itself is quite "useless" for your question.– Shegit BrahmNov 3, 2021 at 7:49
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@ShegitBrahm :Does this help? media.npr.org/assets/img/2021/10/28/…– Michael HardyNov 10, 2021 at 4:56
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@MichaelHardy: Thanks, definitly a good option to get the ad your question is about. As I'm to blind to read the complete subtext, I tried it myself and found this twitter pic: twitter.com/alf_frommer/status/1454108838496555011/photo/1 . Pick the one of your choice to include it into your question - and the link for source reasons. Thanks.– Shegit BrahmNov 10, 2021 at 7:44
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3 Answers
The billboard is showing an advertisement for the Berliner newspaper Der Tagesspiegel. The full text reads
Steuertemperaturmietensenkung
Wie das nach der Wahl alles zusammen funktionieren soll. Bei uns erfahren Sie es.
The text in smaller print could be translated as
How all that is supposed to work at the same time, after the election. At ours you'll learn it.
or
How all those topics are supposed to be addressed at the same time, after the election. In our newspaper you can learn about it.
So, the parts of the compound "Steuertemperaturmietensenkung" are actually meant to be incongrous. The ad plays with the German tendency to string along nouns into long and longer compounds. But these compounds seemingly don't work together at the same time - but the new government has to address all those problems at the same time. The ad invites you to buy the Tagesspiegel to read all about it ;)
answered Oct 31, 2021 at 18:11
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24It might be helpful to mention that there are currently three parties trying to form a government coalition, one of which is associated with wanting to lower taxes (FDP), one with protecting the environment, I.e. lowering global temperature, (Greens) and one with social programs like lowering rents (SPD). And the word tying this word amalgamation together is "senkung" (lowering)– GraipherNov 1, 2021 at 3:58
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2I think the word makes perfect sense. In Sweden, heating up to a certain temperature is often included in the rent, above that the tenant pays. This gives an incentive to landlords to improve insulation, resolving the problem that tenants pay the energy bill whereas landlords have no incentive to improve insulation. :-)– gerritNov 1, 2021 at 9:50
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@gerrit Agreed, that was actually my first (native and naive) interpretation Nov 2, 2021 at 11:38
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If one tries to make sense of the word, then one should note that "Steuer-" may be "control". Nov 2, 2021 at 12:11
Das Wort soll keinen Sinn ergeben. Die Zeile darunter lautet:
Wie das nach der Wahl alles zusammen funktionieren soll. Bei uns erfahren sie es.
Es wurden bewusst Wörter so aneinander gereiht, dass das Ergebnis keinen Sinn ergibt.
Der Tagesspiegel, von dem die Anzeige stammt, ist eine Berliner Tageszeitung.
answered Oct 31, 2021 at 18:10
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2Ich hatte übrigens gesehen, dass die Frage auf Englisch gestellt ist, aber auch, dass der Fragesteller schon eine Weile deutsche Bücher liest. Nov 1, 2021 at 1:18
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Wir antworten aber nicht für heute die FragestellerIn sondern auch für alle anderen, die vielleicht nicht schon eine Weile Deutsche Bücher lesen. :) Nov 24, 2021 at 5:40
The literal meaning of the compound word would be something like "reduction of the rent for tax (or steering/control) temperature" (or "reduction of the temperature rent for taxes"), which doesn't make any sense.
The word "Steuertemperaturmietensenkung" is likely meant to be understood as "Steuer-, Temperatur- und Mietensenkung" – "tax, temperature and rent reduction".
The three German parties which are currently negotiating after the election to form the next government (SPD, Greens, FDP) each have a main goal they want to have addressed:
- Reduce taxes paid by citizens (FDP)
- Reduce the (global) temperature (i.e. combat climate change) (mostly Greens)
- Reduce the rents paid for housing (or at least stop them rising even more) (mostly SPD).
(To many, including the author of the billboard's message, this seems to be impossible to finance all at once.)
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Welcome to German.SE. Do you think it might be helpful to distinguish the three election wishes are more or less different party claims and not wanted all of them by each of them? (As far as I understood there is mainly the FDP for tax reductions) Nov 3, 2021 at 7:52
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