Look who made the cover of Der Spiegel

[sinkingfeeling]

[CurtEastPoint]

1. Who is it?

[Celerity]

6. It's a cover story about the increasing use of informal forms of German in the public sphere (Du versus Sie for instance

when it comes to 'you', with 'Du' being informal versus the formal 'Sie').

Du VS Sie? How to address people in German!

[Iggo]

8. Like t versus usted?

[Celerity]

9. tú

.........and yes

[Iggo]

17. Fucking autocorrect.

[ShazzieB]

11. Yes.

Another example is tu v. vous in French.

As an American, I have always found this distinction between different forms of "you" hard to grasp (not the concept, but how and when to use them). English is a tough language to learn in many ways, but at least this one aspect is simple: in English, "you" means "you," not matter who "you" is.

[Wounded Bear]

12. I think the most common usage is to use "Sie" when meeting for the first time...

Kind of like calling someone "sir" in English when you first meet.

The informal "du" is for someone you already know fairly well.

(High school German student)

[Old Crank]

16. Yes, Sie for first meeting

Sie also for old school bosses. Sie for Polizei.
Du for addressing children, immer(always), they will look at you funny if you use the formal.

[EarlG]

2. LOL

[magicarpet]

4. Give Der Spiegel a free years Star Member subscription,..

... for their kind recognition of Democratic Underground on their magazine front cover.

(a international public relations coup d' tat.)

[wnylib]

5. In German, the word "du" is the informal form of "you."

[generalbetrayus]

7. like "tu" and "vous" in French.

[Marcuse]

14. Or "tu" and "usted" in Spanish.

https://www.thoughtco.com/why-is-usted-sometimes-abbreviated-vd-3079197

[displacedvermoter]

3. Well done...

[twodogsbarking]

10. Is Melaaaaaaaniaaaaah on the pages in between?

[erronis]

13. Nah - the Germans have class.

[some_of_us_are_sane]

15. I must be so fuckin' DENSE!......

IT'S STARING ME RIGHT IN THE FACE! "Hey DU!" -"Hey, DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND!"- Sheesh!

(I'm gonna go sit in the corner.... )