Das Contest

(Frankfurt, Germany) The German Language Council and the Goethe Institute organized a public relations campaign to improve the image of the German language by showing it to be as romantic and glamorous as the French and Italian languages. Excuse me a moment ... writing that sentence just cracked me up. Rest assured, I'm not making this up.

Anyway, included in the PR campaign was a contest to select the coolest, sassiest, most valuable, and most beautiful word in the German language. Words were submitted along with supporting arguments to a panel of judges. These academic image makers believed that the word chosen would go a long way in reducing prejudice toward the German language. So, what did they choose? Habseligkeiten!

Yes, Habseligkeiten - meaning belongings. I don't know why. Maybe it's the word's meaning or the way it just tractors off the tongue.