Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by 1attice 11 days ago
Hi Panzershreck,

I can't help but notice your username, and the fraktur font, and of course the umlaut.

Are you aware that the flavouring you've chosen for your user account, the product name, and its logotype are referencing 1930s Germany?

I wonder what the intent could be.

NB non German speakers, "shreck" is fear, and "panzer" is well-known to anyone who has watched nearly any documentary about WWII. The Fraktur typeface is an older Prussian typeface vigorously revived by the National Socialists, who, IIRC, made it mandatory for government documents, because Helvetica was considered woke.

1 comments

You should save face by editing in a '/sarcasm' as soon as possible.
I was not, and I am not, because it obviously is.

- 'Panzer', of course, is a famous Nazi tank model

- 'Schrek' is from _schrecklish_, terrifying (sp?) in German

- The typeface, Fraktur, has a specific meaning in the National Socialist design language, which is, by about a century, the last time it was regularly used (IIRC.)

So, you tell me. In an Internet awash with encoded symbols, what are these ones telling you?

Use your eyes, your noggin, and your German history texts.

To nitpick:

> 'Panzer', of course, is a famous Nazi tank model

Panzer is German for tank, or armor. It‘s not referring to any model specifically, I don’t think, but I‘m not a historian.

Panzerschreck (spelled correctly) is something like „tank scare“.

But indeed, that GitHub page gives off the wrong vibes. Using this project will be tough, at least in Germany and Austria, lest you want to be suspected of Wiederbetätigung.

Thank you. It's been several decades since I studied.