Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod
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Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod (German: the dative is the genitive's death, but see below for a discussion on the title) is a series of books by Bastian Sick in which doubtful instances of grammar, orthography, and punctuation, as well as unappealing and clumsy parlance of the German language are treated in a playful manner. The author wants thereby to counter thoughtlessness and a supposed degeneration of the language. The book arose from the collection of Zwiebelfisch-columns (the column title originates from a printers' term, literally an "onion fish" but meaning a character plate in a printing press which does not match the other characters around it) by Bastian Sick, which appear weekly in the Spiegel Online. In the mean time, the second and third volumes are procurable. The volumes are occasionally at the top of book sales lists.
In several states of Germany, articles from the books have been officially established as teaching materials, following the use of Sick's foreword in Saarland in August 2005.
The material in the book series has been adapted into a DVD, board game and a computer game.
Eats, Shoots & Leaves by Lynne Truss is a book which in a similarly popular fashion comes to terms with punctuation in English. In Sweden, a comparable book, which is based on Lynne Truss' book, has appeared, describing the peculiarities of the Swedish punctuation.
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[edit] Meaning of title
The book's title is actually a reference to a linguistic phenomenon in certain dialects of German. In these dialects, the use of the genitive case is substituted by the use of the dative case on the noun modified by the genitive, followed by the use of a possessive article plus a nominative-case noun (the noun that would otherwise be in the genitive case). For example, instead of saying das Buch des Mannes (the man's book), one says dem Mann sein Buch ([to] the man his book). This is similar to the his genitive phenomenon that once occurred in English.
Thus, the book's title, Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod (literally "the dative is [to] the genitive its death") is a dialectical manner of saying Der Dativ ist der Tod des Genitivs, which can be translated into English as "the dative is the genitive's death" (or "the dative is the death of the genitive").
[edit] Book titles
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Ein Wegweiser durch den Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2004, ISBN 3-462-03448-0 (Hörbuch: ISBN 3-89813-400-8)
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod, Folge 2 – Neues aus dem Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln 2005, ISBN 3-462-03606-8 (Hörbuch: ISBN 3-89813-445-8)
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. Folge 3. Noch mehr aus dem Irrgarten der deutschen Sprache. Kiepenheuer und Witsch, Köln November 2006, ISBN 3-462-03742-0 (Hörbuch: ISBN 3-89813-566-7)
[edit] DVD title
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Die Große Bastian Sick Schau. Sony BMG Music Entertainment GmbH, 2008, ASIN B000X1YDCC
[edit] Game titles
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod. KOSMOS, 2006, ASIN 3440690237
- Der Dativ ist dem Genitiv sein Tod – Das PC-Spiel. (PC+MAC) United Soft Media Verlag GmbH, 2007, ASIN 3803228301
