KB: Created page with "Friedrich Mähliss (alternative spelling: Mähliß) was a German language teacher and writer who - in 1892 - published a 23-page brochure entitled ''Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache'' [The Horrors of the German Language]. In his introduction to the text, Mähliss explicitly referred to the lecture Mark Twain had given under the same title in Dresden in December 1891 ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/2EVJH7CM/ 4]). Mähliss was a member of the "..."

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Created page with "Friedrich Mähliss (alternative spelling: Mähliß) was a German language teacher and writer who - in 1892 - published a 23-page brochure entitled ''Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache'' [The Horrors of the German Language]. In his introduction to the text, Mähliss explicitly referred to the lecture Mark Twain had given under the same title in Dresden in December 1891 ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/2EVJH7CM/ 4]). Mähliss was a member of the "..."

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Friedrich Mähliss (alternative spelling: Mähliß) was a German language teacher and writer who - in 1892 - published a 23-page brochure entitled ''Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache'' [The Horrors of the German Language]. In his introduction to the text, Mähliss explicitly referred to the lecture Mark Twain had given under the same title in Dresden in December 1891 ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/2EVJH7CM/ 4]).

Mähliss was a member of the "Verein für vereinfachte Rechtschreibung" [Association for Simplified Spelling], founded in 1876, and editor of the journal ''Ortografen'' ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/R87S2ITE/ Klenz 1050]), which advocated for a radical reform and perceived "simplification" of German spelling. In a short critical review of Mähliss' text, Th. Matthias refers to Mähliss' efforts to convert passages from Goethe's ''Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre'' into his new proposed spelling and grammar unfavourably as a "Verballhornung" ([https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/AMQVGMRI 54]) of the German language, an idiomatic expression which at the time was used to describe the effort of trying to improve something while actually making it worse.

Further sources:
* [https://www.zotero.org/groups/4437667/mtxdigital/items/XDVXMJRV/ Israel and Walther 188]

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Friedrich Maehliss - Revision history