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I am looking for, if it even exists, the German equivalent of the English NSFW (not safe for work) abbreviation.

Edit: The NSFW abbreviation pertains to resources on the web you better not visit while at work. E.g. it is commonly used on user-generated content websites as a filter to ensure you don't click on (or even see) things you'd regret having seen or clicked on.

A direct translation would be along the lines of (source):

  • Unangemessen für den Arbeitsplatz

  • Nicht arbeitsplatzsicher

Is there a commonly accepted Internet-speak, equivalent abbreviation?

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    Why exactly "internet speak"? Bureaucratic jargon used in a company's work safety office or respective authorities would not do the job? --- You can visit arbeitssicherheit.de to catch some typical expressions on work safety. Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 13:48
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    Before the comments here I would have said that "NSFW" is usually understood by Germans ;)
    – Carsten S
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 14:40
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    NSFW is understood well enough by the target group.
    – Ingmar
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 15:33
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    Use NSFW. You could also write PORN, which is as just as short. Everybody understands NSFW isn't work-related at all. It's just one of those stupid euphemisms coined within the U.S. culture. Sesame street is not safe for work unless you are an editor of children's television.
    – Janka
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 18:16
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    @Janka While this may be one legitimate use of the term, NSFW spans a host of other areas. For example, I came across the term on a site listing funny/geeky gadgets. Some of these, however, are a bit inappropriate and, therefore, you can filter the results using said button.
    – user22092
    Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 9:15

1 Answer 1

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I think the best translation (in terms of expressions that are actually used in German speaking countries) was mentioned by commenter "User Unknown" in the comments to the original question. He proposed

nicht jugendfrei

This is indeed the traditional and well-established expression to mark sexually explicit material.

Note that the term became widespread in times long before the emergence of the internet, and therefore warning people of materials with sexually explicit or otherwise problematic content at the workplace, of all locations, was simply not an issue. There was just no danger that somebody could involuntarily or incautiously access publications in a way that would compromise him or her vis à vis colleagues or superiors, and therefore there was no need for a special term to warn people. The only danger society anticipated was that, God forbid!, minors could see a naked breast or worse.

As for modern, internet-prone times, I have never met a German expression exactly corresponding to the "Not safe for work" euphemism. I do not know if something like this is - except for the English original - in use on German pornographic sites. Perhaps there are other people out there who can rely on a richer treasury of experience?

However, there is one related item that indeed has a German name:

Chef-Button

is used for a button on a website or in a browser to quickly close the page and display something work-related, typically a spreadsheet, so that passing hierarchs might not be offended.

(I admit that "Chef-Button" is not the best example for a German term, as the only thing differentiating it from the English original is the capitalization of initials. More Germanish would be

*Vorgesetzten-Knopf

but this I have, although a nice term, never heard in practice.)

Commenter Takkat contributed then

Cheftaste / Chef-Taste

which indeed has a very "Germanish" sound to it. I would, however, suppose, that it rather refers to a physical key on the keyboard, not to an on-screen graphical button intended for mouse operation.

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  • I vividly remember the site www.freexxxpics.de (now belonging to a domain grabber) which held royalty-free pics of "XXX". Dozens. Free to use!
    – Janka
    Commented Sep 4, 2018 at 18:33
  • Cheftaste
    – Takkat
    Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 8:00
  • Thank you, I like the Chef-Button/Cheftaste suggestion. Contrary to some of the comments, NSFW is not a term that solely pertains to pornography. Something may well be entirely suitable for the "Jugend", yet not safe for work - hence the Cheftaste works a charm.
    – user22092
    Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 9:22
  • @Takkat - Ja, in der Tat, Cheftaste... sehr viel besser als Chef-Button. Aber vielleicht nur für physische Tasten? Ich füge es noch in die Antwort ein. Commented Sep 5, 2018 at 14:06
  • "in use on German pornographic sites" - I suspect you are slightly misunderstanding the context "NSFW" would typically be used in. It is normally placed in such a way that you can avoid loading, or at least displaying, the content in question, i.e. often as a part of a link title, and (as stated by the OP) in user-generated content such as forum postings. I doubt a website that is, as a whole, not safe for work would use the abbreviation anywhere. Commented Sep 12, 2018 at 21:21