Don’t abbreviate the World Cup!
19th June 2014
WG, AKW, AGB
Sometimes my students ask me a question like “What do you call a WG in English?” and I say something like “I share a flat with some friends.” Now that’s quite a bit more difficult than the German “Ich wohne in einer WG”. Everyone here knows what a Wohngemeinschaft is, and everyone shortens it to WG, so surely English must have a short form too.
Of course you could say “I’m in an FS” (FS for “flat share”) but I’m afraid nobody would understand what the initials FS meant. That’s just one example of where German commonly uses an abbreviation and English doesn’t.
In the same way, in one conversation class about Nuclear Power Stations one student used the term NPS. The logic was clear: if German calls an Atomkraftwerk an AKW, then English must call a nuclear power station an NPS, right? Wrong. The fact that German uses an abbreviation doesn’t mean that English does too.
A similar thing happens on Swiss websites: before you can buy an online ticket you have to tick a box marked “Ich stimme den AGB zu.” The initials AGB stand for Allgemeine Geschäftsbedingungen, the terms and conditions which you have to agree to before buying the ticket.
Now if I want to buy a train ticket using the ticket app on my smart phone I have to tick a box to show that “I agree to the GTC”. Since I know what the German version says, I can easily work out that this means the General Terms and Conditions, and any intelligent person could work out that that is what they are talking about. But the fact remains that AGB is a known abbreviation in German, but GTC is not a known abbreviation in English. You simply have to say “I agree to the Terms and Conditions”.
And what about the World Cup?
When I first came to Switzerland I remember being puzzled when people talked about the WM. After a while I realised that they were talking about the Fussball Weltmeisterschaft, known here simply by the initials WM. In the English speaking world we simply call it “the World Cup” – and please note that in this particular case you should never, under any circumstances, use an abbreviation!!
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(New address from 24th March 2018)
(New address from 24th March 2018)
If you are travelling from Rüti / Wolfhausen, drive past the Hombrechtikon place-name sign for about 300 metres and turn right into Tödistrasse, just before the Tobel bus stop.
Approaching from Hombrechtikon
If you are approaching from the centre of Hombrechtikon, follow the signs to Rüti. At the Tobel junction (the Methodist Church is on the left) turn left. Tödistrasse is the next turning on the left, just past the Tobel bus stop.
The entrance to our new flat is about 100 metres from the junction with Rütistrasse, on the left-hand side of the road.
The house number is number 9 and we are on the first floor.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
There are a few visitor’s parking bays a short distance beyond the entrance, on the left.
Arriving by bus
If you arrive by bus from Bubikon, get off the bus at Tobel and follow Tödiweg until you get to Tödistrasse. Our house is on the right.