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Very hard to implement properly
Authored by: Vistarded on Sep 22, '06 01:53:55PM

Nefelibata posted a longish list of definite articles in all sorts of languages, including "Die" which is the feminine/plural definite article in German. The funny thing is that there is a German band called "Die Happy" where "Die" obviously means biting the dust. Do you think anyone browsing the iTunes Library for Die Happy songs will expect to find them under "Happy, Die"? Unfortunately, it is hard to distinguish ambiguous cases like this algorithmically.

Also, there is a German punk band called "Die Ärzte" (the doctors). In this case, "Die" is really the definite article, but "Die Ärzte" insist that it's an intrinsic part of the name. According to them, their new album is never "das neue Album von den Ärzten" or even "das neue Album der Ärzte" but "das neue Album von Die Ärzte", without any form of declension, i.e. "Die Ärzte" is supposed to be used as a proper name. Now while iTunes is free to ignore the wishes of Die Ärzte, I as an iTunes user am likely to be irritated when I am not able to find my Die Ärzte songs in between let's say Devildriver and Die Happy, but instead have to look between After Forever and Avalanches, The.

Lawyer: But what about that tattoo on your chest? Doesn't it say, "Die Bart, Die?"
Sideshow Bob: No, that's German for "The Bart, The."



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