• CarbonScored [any]
    hexbear
    25
    edit-2
    8 months ago

    Because Germans speak.. a different language? "Luftwaffe" is not a proper noun, it's German for "Air Forces."

    • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
      hexbear
      18
      8 months ago

      Personally, I would've just changed the name to something that wasn't used by the Nazis if I was in charge of West Germany after the war 🤔

      • NuraShiny [any]
        hexbear
        18
        8 months ago

        As a German, I don't see the point of this. Luftwaffe literally means air weapon. This is like saying there shouldn't be a US army because 'army' is the name the confederation used for it's forces. It's not like Germany has a Schutzstaffel any more.

        I would much rather have had denazification, but of course neither happened so...yay?

        • BelieveRevolt [he/him]
          hexbear
          14
          8 months ago

          You could use a synonym like Luftstreitkräfte (or Luftstreitkraft, German Wikipedia seems to use both singular and plural and it's clear to me which one is correct) like the other comment suggests. To me, it just seems weird to still use the same terms as the Nazis, but it makes sense considering the whole ”no denazification” thing, I guess.

          there shouldn't be a US army

          I agree.

          anakin-padme-2 You just mean the word army, right?

          anakin-padme-3

    • Mister_Bennet [he/him]
      hexbear
      14
      8 months ago

      So in English it would the German Airforce. Not the German Luftwaffe.

      Would be like calling it the French Armée de l'Air.

      • CarbonScored [any]
        hexbear
        3
        edit-2
        8 months ago

        Yep, pretty much. No reason to refer to it as such.

    • Utter_Karate [he/him, comrade/them]
      hexbear
      4
      8 months ago

      Well, one of the quirks of the German language is that every noun is a proper noun in a way, since you should capitalize the first letter of every noun. I'm sure that plays a part in why people think it is an actual proper name instead of just a noun.