Shrinkflation

[סייבר־שד]

I don't know about you, but where I live it is with utter disgust that I witness how the more time passes, the more "mini" becomes the new "extra large" (Shrinkflation).

No, I didn't just realise that, but only a couple of days ago, and for the first time, heard the Spanish term for it: reduflación, which I was shamefully unaware of for so many years.

That, in turn, made me wonder how that particularly odious phenomenon is called across the globe. According to the Wikipedia article I linked to, here are some of them:

• Azerbaijani: şrinkflyasiya
• Esperanto: ŝrumpflacio
• French: réduflation
• German: Shrinkflation
• Hungarian: Zsugorfláció
• Japanese: シュリンクフレーション
• Portuguese: reduflação
• Russian: шринкфляция
• Ukrainian: шрінкфляція
• Vietnamese: shrinkflation

So, how do other languages call it?
And as for the ones covered above, are there any alternatives not mentioned in the Wikipedia articles?

Cheers!

 

[apmoy70]

Greek:

«Συρρίκνωση περιεχομένου» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i.pe̞ɾi.e̞xo̞ˈme̞nu] --> shrinkaɡe of content, or,
«Συρρίκνωση προϊόντος» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i.pro̞.iˈo̞ndo̞s̠] --> shrinkaɡe of product, or simply,
«Συρρίκνωση» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i] (fem.) --> shrinkaɡe, shrinkinɡ, reduction in size a 1866 constructed Katharevousa feminine noun:
«Συῤῥίκνωσις/συῤῥικνώσεως» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠is̠] (nom. sinɡ.)/[s̠iɾiˈkno̞s̠e̞o̞s̠] (ɡen. sinɡ.), a compound: Classical prefix and preposition «σύν» sún ([ˈs̠in] in MoGr pronunciation) + Classical fem. noun «ῥίκνωσις» rʰíknōsis --> shrivelling, wrinkledness (which has survived only in inseparable compounds in MoGr) < Classical adj. «ῥικνός» rʰĭknós --> bent, crooked, shrivelled (of age, dryness, cold), stiff

 

[Abaye]

Weirdly no term for "shrinkflation" in Hebrew although it happens too often and covered by many business-news articles. We also cannot use the English term, a four-consonant cluster is just too much.

 

[סייבר־שד]

Greek:

«Συρρίκνωση περιεχομένου» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i.pe̞ɾi.e̞xo̞ˈme̞nu] --> shrinkaɡe of content, or,
«Συρρίκνωση προϊόντος» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i.pro̞.iˈo̞ndo̞s̠] --> shrinkaɡe of product, or simply,
«Συρρίκνωση» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠i] (fem.) --> shrinkaɡe, shrinkinɡ, reduction in size a 1866 constructed Katharevousa feminine noun:
«Συῤῥίκνωσις/συῤῥικνώσεως» [s̠iˈɾikno̞s̠is̠] (nom. sinɡ.)/[s̠iɾiˈkno̞s̠e̞o̞s̠] (ɡen. sinɡ.), a compound: Classical prefix and preposition «σύν» sún ([ˈs̠in] in MoGr pronunciation) + Classical fem. noun «ῥίκνωσις» rʰíknōsis --> shrivelling, wrinkledness (which has survived only in inseparable compounds in MoGr) < Classical adj. «ῥικνός» rʰĭknós --> bent, crooked, shrivelled (of age, dryness, cold), stiff

You know, I love the fact that, while etymologically unrelated, the Greek term somewhat resembles the English portmanteau!

 

[סייבר־שד]

Weirdly no term for "shrinkflation" in Hebrew although it happens too often and covered by many business-news articles. We also cannot use the English term, a four-consonant cluster is just too much.

In a way, it's pretty much the same in Mexico. I found out about the English word many years ago, but in my experience, neither that nor what I know now to be its Spanish equivalent seem to ever be used around here.

And yet it's also no unknown or taboo subject for us; I'd say it's one of those things that everybody knows, and many discuss every now and then, but few feel the need to actually give it a name.
Given the number of replies this thread has got, that may be the case across most of the globe.

 

[Marsianitoh]

In Spain we call it " reduflación".

 

[סייבר־שד]

In Spain we call it " reduflación".

Indeed, I mentioned it in my original post.
But since you are from Spain, I am curious as to how often that term is employed over there, on the other side of the puddle, as we sometimes say here.

 

[Penyafort]

In Catalan the same calque is used as in other Romance languages: reduflació [rəðufləsi'ó] (< reduir + inflació). It is too recent to be in official dictionaries but it is used in official media.

 

[סייבר־שד]

In Catalan the same calque is used as in other Romance languages: reduflació [rəðufləsi'ó] (< reduir + inflació). It is too recent to be in official dictionaries but it is used in official media.

Moltes gràcies, Penyafort! Imagino que tampoc es un mot molt usat per la major part de la població catalanoparlant, ¿no?

 

[Penyafort]

Moltes gràcies, Penyafort! Imagino que tampoc es un mot molt usat per la major part de la població catalanoparlant, ¿no?

No gens. Diria que, llevat d'economistes i gent del ram, ningú no coneix la paraula. Molts dels articles on hi surt són justament per a explicar què és.

 

[Nanon]

A few months have passed (more than a year, actually) and what I see in French news (mainstream, not specialised) is the Anglicism shrinkflation, rather than réduflation. See Lipton Ice Tea, mayonnaise Amora… Carrefour va épingler les produits coupables de shrinkflation à partir de lundi

We still don't know how to translate a related phenomenon: skimpflation, i.e. downgrading the quality of goods or services. See ‘Skimpflation’: how supermarkets reduce the quality of what you buy (and, in French, Skimpflation | Même facture, mais moins de service).

 

[סייבר־שד]

A few months have passed (more than a year, actually) and what I see in French news (mainstream, not specialised) is the Anglicism shrinkflation, rather than réduflation. See Lipton Ice Tea, mayonnaise Amora… Carrefour va épingler les produits coupables de shrinkflation à partir de lundi

We still don't know how to translate a related phenomenon: skimpflation, i.e. downgrading the quality of goods or services. See ‘Skimpflation’: how supermarkets reduce the quality of what you buy (and, in French, Skimpflation | Même facture, mais moins de service).

Bravo pour M. Bompard! We are in dire need of such measures over here, where such companies never tire of treating us like crap and trying to fool us at every step, with the connivance of virtually every retailer, big or small.
I wasn't aware of that other term, skimpflation, but I sure have noticed it more often than I would like to admit, and indeed, you often get both that and shrinkflation over here, as well.

What I find even worse than that, though, is the reaction of most people to it: just bow the head and mumble and grumble about it at every opportunity, but we rarely seem to have the unity, brains and guts to give these abusive companies the well-earned finger they deserve in truly effective ways.

 

[ThomasK]

Dutch: "krimpflatie", where "krimpen" is about the same as "to shrink". We associate it though old age: we become smaller (and we regret that). In Dutch it is not a transitive verb. (is it in English? I guess not, but ...)

 

[Nanon]

In Dutch it is not a transitive verb. (is it in English? I guess not, but ...)

I think it is...

 

[Włoskipolak 72]

In Polish, thank god we have our own verbs..

shrinkage

kurczenie się (of wood, metal, forest, area, resources)
kurczenie się, zbieganie się (of fabric, clothes)
zmniejszanie się, ubywanie (of resources, profits)


kurczyć (verb) = zmniejszać przez ściąganie, podkulanie (reduce by pulling, curling)
kurczyć się (refl.verb) = zmniejszać swoją objętość, swoje rozmiary (reduce its volume, its size)

 

[alfaalfa]

Ciao,
in Italian we have two words
sgrammatura; verb: sgrammare>s+grammare. S privative + gram (unit of weight) > less weight
riporzionamento; verb: riporzionare> ri+porzionare. Ri=re (again) + portion > to make a new portion (smaller)