That is, “shop-closing law” in German. This law regulates the opening hours of shops across the land. Across Germany, that is. As for the monstrosity of the German language, I rest my case.

Addendum (January 12, 2023)

Goodness gracious, I am rather embarrassed by these callous words, which I have come across purely by chance on one of my haphazard wanderings through my writings. After a quick search of my Residua on the World Wide Web, I found two more pieces of writing lambasting the German language. In the first, I called it a bummer of a language (“A Bummer,” April 10, 1998). And in the second I went as far as admitting my loathing of it, and in writing (“Loathing,” May 15, 2003). Luckily, my search also shows that I have done my best to appreciate this august language in my dotage. Even more, I started studying German with the help of Paul Müller, a German publisher of note, a year after I moved from Reading, Berkshire, to Motovun, Istria (“Appreciation,” November 26, 2004). My goal was to relish the great German writers in their mother’s tongue, and Paul did his best to guide me in this endeavor. Unfortunately, my able teacher died before I could fully appreciate the gems of German literature (“Deutsch 119,” August 21, 2007). But those three years of zealous learning have changed my attitudes toward it rather radically. And for good. Now I appreciate it as the root of the English language, as well. Whence this heartfelt addendum, it goes without saying. Phew!