On 3 July 2019, the German Research Foundation, the DFG, adopted its code for safeguarding good research practice. The explanations to its first guideline ask researchers to work by the rules of their discipline and to keep strict honesty about their own contributions and those of others. They also ask them alle Ergebnisse konsequent selbst anzuzweifeln, to doubt all their results themselves, consistently.
Questions in Parliament
The rules of the Bundestag allow a speech to be interrupted with a question. With the speaker’s consent, the president may give the floor for Zwischenfragen, interim questions, which must be short and precise. A member may also make a short intervention of no more than two minutes, and the speaker may answer once more. On 6 June 2018, the chancellor faced members’ questions directly in the Bundestag for the first time. The coalition agreement had obliged Angela Merkel to do so three times a year. Each question had one minute, and each answer had one minute.
The Leipzig Disputation
From 27 June to 16 July 1519, the theologian Johann Eck of Ingolstadt debated Andreas Karlstadt and Martin Luther of Wittenberg in the ducal palace in Leipzig. The question was the authority of the pope and the church. Every word, spoken in Latin, was taken down by recorders. Eck had himself celebrated as the winner. The church historian Armin Kohnle sees no clear winner. In the debate, Luther conceded that not all the teachings of Jan Hus, who had been burned as a heretic, were heretical.
Words for Empty Talk
Schaumschläger
Froth-beater, also the word for a whisk. Duden defines it as a person who pretends to qualities or abilities that he does not have, especially from a need for recognition.
Blender
Dazzler. Someone who wins people over with outward advantages and so hides his weaknesses.
Phrasendrescher
Phrase-thresher. Someone who makes speeches that sound fine but say nothing.
Wichtigtuer
Someone who makes himself important.
Selbstdarsteller
Self-presenter. Someone whose actions serve to display himself.
Heiße Luft
Hot air. Das ist doch nur heiße Luft. That is only hot air.
Angeber, Großmaul
Show-off, bigmouth.
Words for Testing a Claim
Hinterfragen
To question what lies behind something. Duden: to ask about the background, conditions and foundations of a thing. The usual phrase is etwas kritisch hinterfragen.
Jemandem auf den Zahn fühlen
To feel someone’s tooth. To examine a person very critically.
Nachhaken, nachbohren
To hook in again, to drill again. To keep asking until the answer is complete.
Wie kommen Sie auf die Zahl?
How did you arrive at that number?
Hand und Fuß haben
To have hand and foot. It is said of a plan or an argument that is well thought through. Der Plan muss aber Hand und Fuß haben.
Modesty Is an Ornament
Bescheidenheit ist eine Zier, doch weiter kommt man ohne ihr.
Modesty is an ornament, but you get further without it. The first half is the old virtue. The second half is the joke. It is also bad grammar, since ohne takes the accusative and correct German would be ohne sie. The error is kept for the rhyme, and it marks the second half as something no one quite says in earnest.
Checked the Next Morning
On 9 February 2025, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his challenger Friedrich Merz met in a televised debate. The next day, the research newsroom CORRECTIV published its check of their figures under the headline Kandidaten argumentierten teils mit falschen Zahlen, the candidates argued partly with false numbers. Merz’s claim that Germany was in the third year of a recession, which had never happened before, was rated as missing context. A claim by Scholz on irregular migration was rated partly false. The public broadcaster ARD has run its own fact-checking desk, the faktenfinder, since April 2017.
The Smallest Common Reality
In March 2021, the chemist and science journalist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim published Die kleinste gemeinsame Wirklichkeit, The Smallest Common Reality. The subtitle is Wahr, falsch, plausibel? Die größten Streitfragen wissenschaftlich geprüft. True, false, plausible? The biggest disputes, checked by science. The book reached number one on the Spiegel bestseller list in the month it came out. Later that year, Nguyen-Kim won the Grimme Prize for her explanations of the coronavirus.
Facts, Facts, Facts
Fakten, Fakten, Fakten und immer an die Leser denken. Facts, facts, facts, and always think of the readers. It was the advertising line of the news magazine Focus, which Helmut Markwort ran as editor-in-chief from 1993. The line became a common saying. In February 2008, Focus retired it.
The Doctorate on the Identity Card
The Identity Card Act lists what the German identity card shows. First come the family name and birth name, then the given names. Third on the list is Doktorgrad, the doctoral degree. The Passport Act does the same for the passport. The degree is entered only on proof. A German doctorate is shown with the award certificate or a certificate of possession. A foreign one is entered only after the documents have been checked, with a translation. An honorary doctorate is generally entered only if a German university with the right to award doctorates conferred it.