this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2025
760 points (97.4% liked)
Technology
77090 readers
2029 users here now
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
Our Rules
- Follow the lemmy.world rules.
- Only tech related news or articles.
- Be excellent to each other!
- Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
- Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
- Politics threads may be removed.
- No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
- Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
- Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
- Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.
Approved Bots
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I agree with the second half but disagree on the first. We do use Dalai Lama because thats what he's known as across the world (at least fron my understanding) . We didn't refer to Angela Merkel as Furher of Germany when she lead it so it seems weird to include this in the introductory summary of Hitler especially considering it's an English article. I dont think you're losing anything in translation in this example by calling him the "leader of Germany" at that time. Down below, in the verbose write-up, seems like the more appropriate place to use it.
I don't think the Merkel comparison is accurate - no one called her Leader, we called her the Chancellor (Kanzler), because that's the job title. "Chancellor" is a pretty specific word in English with a narrower meaning and clearer connotation than "leader", which can be used in a huge variety of contexts. The problem is that English doesn't have a 1:1 translation of Fuehrer as we do with Kanzler, and "leader" is too generic versus Chancellor, Prime Minister, President, etc. Maybe "Supreme Leader" would work, but I haven't seen that used often enough for it to stick.
Hitler was literally the chancellor of Germany. That was his official title before he seized power and took total control and changed the title himself.
I know, but convention is to use a person's final and highest title. Nobody refers to Julius Caesar as "quaestor".
It's a title he invented though, after taking control. Continuing to use it is honoring his memory in a way.
That's true, but to reuse my comparison to Romans, we call Augustus "emperor" too despite the term "imperator" being co-opted from an earlier, different meaning. I can see both points of view here, I just don't feel strongly enough to see it as a red flag. God knows there are lots of other, actual red flags.
I think there is a way to present the information that makes it unambiguous that he isn't being honored.
Instead of saying that he "was the fuhrer of Germany", it could say, "after taking power, Hitler took on the title of 'fuhrer'."
I like that phrasing.