‘Works-council-infested’ named as ‘non-word’ of 2009

Betriebsratsverseucht was first used during a political television show in May during a discussion about workers’ rights, according to daily Die Welt on Tuesday.

Linguist Horst Dieter Schlosser, organiser of the annual non-word poll, said betriebsratsverseucht was picked because it was a “linguistic low point in how those dependent on wages are dealt with.”

He and and a council of other linguists select the annual non-word from suggestions for words or phrases which have emerged in public discourse during the year that are linguistically and politically unpleasant, the paper reported.

Other candidates for the non-word included Flüchtlingsbekämpfung, or “refugee-combat,” and Kopftuchmädchen, or “headscarf girl.”