Talk:ersätzer

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Is it actually English? Can the lower-case form be cited? Equinox ◑ 12:47, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, it's not German; the proper plural for Ersatz would be Ersätze. But yeah, I don't see much sign of use in either language. -- Visviva 13:35, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

In the quotation, it is not used as a plural but the singular. There the -er is the common agent suffix. —Stephen 13:52, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that's true: "either reminders of her beloved grandmother or Ersätzer for her inadequate mother." The singular would seem to require an article in this case, and even then it would be rather awkward.

But even if this is an agent noun, what would be the verb from which it is formed? The verb behind Ersatz is ersetzen, so the agent noun would normally be Ersetzer, which is well-attested. It's conceivable that there might be an alternative form that uses the a-umlaut (maybe in Swabian?), but I can't find much evidence of it.

Of course, all of this is moot if the word can be verified in one language or the other (or both). But having taken a look around, I have my doubts: Google +ersätzer (Books • Groups • Scholar) (248,1,0,0,0). -- Visviva 14:57, 25 September 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I guess the "ersätzer" are her cousins and teachers. For some reason, I had the impression that this was based in Yiddish. Anyway, I don’t think it’s Swabian. —Stephen 04:21, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

In philosophy, an ersatzer is one who subscribes to ersatzism, something to do with concepts of reality. But the plural of that is ersatzers (or ersatzists). —Stephen 04:48, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

RFV failed, entry deleted. —Ruakh_TALK 01:09, 8 November 2009 (UTC)