The title of this article contains the character ü. Where it is unavailable or not desired, the name may be represented as ueber.

For the Sturmgeist album see Über (album).

Über ( German pronunciation?) comes from the German language. It is a cognate of both Latin super and Greek ύπερ (hyper), as well as English over (as in "overkill"). During the 2000s, über also became a synonym for super; e.g. überleet = superleet, generally with a slightly intensified meaning. Über is commonly written as uber in English, though with slightly different meaning.

The normal transliteration of the "ü" ('u' with a diaresis representing an umlaut) when used in writing systems without diacritics (such as airport arrival boards, older computer systems, etc.) is "ue", not just "u"; however, it could be argued that the English language use of the word uber is a new word distinct from ueber^{[citation needed]}. This is because English is defined by common use of words, which dictionaries and academia record, not the reverse. The use of 'ü', 'u', and 'ue' in the word is an emerging trend in common usage in English with no clear consensus.

Uses in German

In German, über is used as a prefix as well as a separate word. In the latter case, it may be a preposition or an adverb depending on context. Eg. über etwas sprechen - speak about something, über die Brücke - over the bridge, übernehmen - take over (nehmen = take).

Über also translates to over, above, meta and super. The actual translation depends on context. One example would be the term Übermensch from Friedrich Nietzsche, which translates to super human or superman (literally "overhuman"). It is assumed that it is via this translation that the word über entered the English vocabulary (cf. calque).

In German online slang it can also be used with the same meaning as the English usages of "uber" by gamers^{[citation needed]}. In this case, it is typically written without the umlaut—despite the ready availability and familiarity of the 'ü' character—in part to distinguish it from its original meaning^{[citation needed]}. Linguistically speaking, it's interesting to note that a language can borrow a loan word that it already loaned out, as long as the meaning has changed sufficiently. In the most cases of this usage, it is borrowed directly as Denglisch, or an English word/phrase that has been fitted adhoc into the German language. In Hindi and other related languages of India, a word of the same origin, 'üper' means 'up' or 'upper'.

Über contrasts in German with the word Unter, meaning "Under". "Unter" can be found in words such as Untermensch, U-Bahn (Untergrundbahn), U-Boot (Unterseeboot), etc, as well as many toponyms, such as Unter den Linden.

Uses

TV

In the TV commercial for Quizno's Prime Rib on Garlic Bread Sub actors describe prime rib as the "Uber Meat."[1]

In the TV series Friends in the episode entitled The One with the East German Laundry Detergent from October 20, 1994, Ross changes from his old laundry detergent Snuggle to "Überweiß." "It's new, it's German, it's extra-tough."

In the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer the word "Ubervamp" was coined to describe the Turok-Han that featured in the 7th season.

In the TV series The X-Files, Special Agent Scully refers to "überchildren" when talking about a female scientist and a male that is bound in a wheelchair.

In the TV series Andromeda, "uber" is an insulting slang term for Nietzschean.

In the TV series South Park's Episode 8 of Season 10 entitled, "Make Love, Not Warcraft", the word Über is used gratuitously as the boys play World of Warcraft. ("That was such über pwnage." Of Hot Pockets: "That's über cool.")

In the internet series Pure Pwnage, the main character Jeremy claims to have "übermicro" and to be an "übergamer".

In the first episode of tenth series of Top Gear, Dame Helen Mirren called Jeremy Clarkson Über-male

Gaming

Über is a gaming term for a player or object that is considered ultimately superior. For example, a player who has accumulated the most points, rare and advanced weapons, tools, clothing, or spells available in a game could be referred to as über. Rare or powerful items themselves are also frequently called über. Something does not even have to be a tangible object to be considered über; for example, a player could use an "über strategy", "über hax", or "über micro (the latter word coined by Jeremy of Pure Pwnage)." The word is used fairly frequently in MMORPG and First-person shooter computer games.

SSX is a snowboarding game that introduced "über" tricks; which were unlocked after certain tricks were executed properly. In SSX 3 "über" and "super-über" tricks were introduced.

"00ber", a leet (1337) spelling of "über", is often used in relation to the Pokémon gaming products (especially in the context of NetBattle and official tournaments). "00ber" is seeing declining usage however, being

The first person shooter UberSoldier (2006) is the first major game title to use the word über in its title. However, it is not the only English language computer game title to import a German word (see also Soldat (2002/2005)). The term Ubersoldat itself was introduced by the 2001 first person shooter Return to Castle Wolfenstein; Spear of Destiny, a sequel of the original Wolfenstein 3D, featured a boss named Ubermutant.

In the game Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith, the cheat code "trainme" will cause the game to refer to the player as an "Uberjedi."

In the game Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, players can open a portal to "uber" bosses and get their super rare rewards.

Many multiplayer first-person shooter (FPS) gamers use the word "über" while gaming. In this case, "über" is commonly referred to a specific player's skill. However, some gamers twist the definition of "über" and use it in different contexts, however the idea is generally the same, i.e: "ubernoob" a "massive" or a "super" noob.

In Far Cry Instincts, the Übers are mutated humans that you have to fight, and often carry P90's.

In Oblivion for the Xbox 360, there is a Wood Elf named Umbra, if you kill her you can obtain the Umbra Sword. Dubbed uber sword by various websites because it is one of the best swords in the game.

In Condemned: Criminal Origins for Xbox 360, the serial killer is referred to as the uber-serial killer

In Age of Mythology the last level of the campaign allows you to use Arkantos (the main character of the campaign) however he is much more powerful than the rest of the campaign. In the editor mode he is referred to as uber Arkantos

In Pokémon, certain legendary pokemon can be Uber.

Film

In the film Dodgeball, the film that the team watches has "Über-American corporations" at the bottom with an iron eagle behind the title.

In the film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Libby's CD Player said Uber-Bass on it.

In the film Jason X, after his upgrade, Jason, the main antagonist, is known as 'Uber-Jason' by fans and actors alike.

Other

Due to fast growth in popularity, über is also often applied to everyday things. For example, if a high school freshman (American) were to show qualities that are "un-freshmanlike" or generally attributed to juniors or seniors , such as a thorough understanding of trigonometry and/or calculus, the person might be referred to as an "über-freshman." In this sense, it is identical to the common usage in gaming.

The word über is also frequently used in the Information Technology profession due in part to its prolific usage in gaming. An extremely powerful web server for instance could be referred to as being 'just über', the phrase lending its name to a Linux blog/search engine. Google Finance describes its own interactive charts as "ubercool".^[1]

During the 2006 Major League Baseball season, General Manager Theo Epstein of the Boston Red Sox said that he will make an "Uber" team to get his team into serious contention. However, the Red Sox collapsed to their arch-rival New York Yankees in 2006. The Red Sox season ended not making the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

ATI released the x1950 in an uber package.

Dave's Garden, one of the largest gardening communities online, uses the title "über gardeners" to describe the members who have made the most contributions to PlantFiles, its collaboratively developed database of plants.

See also

• Pwn

References

1. ^ "For the ubercool interactive charts, you need to install the Macromedia Flash Player"

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