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Wednesday, October 12, 2005 at 8:38 PM
8:38PM

Earth to Germany: hyphens are good!

DateWednesday, October 12, 2005 at 8:38PM

■"No Hyphens, Please: Germany Tells Parents To Keep Names Simple; Young Leonhard's Parents Fight One of Many Rules; No Lenins and Schnuckis," by Mary Jacoby, Wall Street Journal, 12 October 2005, p. A1.


Germany won't allow hyphenated last names for kids.


Why? What if a woman marries a man and hyphenates her last name, then wants her kids to share her hyphenated name? And then those kids marry other kids from similar hyphenated last-name families? I mean, do their kids end up with four last names all in a row? And what of their kids? And so on and so on?


You want to know why the Germans lost two world wars. This is a big clue!

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