Germany's standard dictionary has included a
vulgar English term, used by Chancellor Angela Merkel among others, as
an acceptable German word.
Duden, the equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary in the
UK, said it was reflecting the common use of the word "shitstorm" among
Germans.The word, which is used in German to denote a public outcry, seems to have caught on during the eurozone crisis.
German language experts voted it "Anglicism of the year" in 2012.
One of them, Michael Mann, explained in a report by the Local newspaper, that the English word conveyed a "new kind of protest... clearly different in kind and degree from what could be expected in the past in response to a statement or action".
In the past there have been controversies over German usage of words like "download", "job-hopping" or "eye-catcher", the BBC's Steve Evans reports from Berlin.
The new word has crept into the language, imported by people who heard its use primarily in American English, he says.
It is used by the highest and lowest in the land and when Chancellor Merkel used it at a public meeting, nobody batted an eyelid, our correspondent adds.