The IMF joined the fray on Friday, calling on Germany to cut is surplus to an “appropriate rate”. Germans tend to react with consternation to such criticism, asking why they are rebuked for being good exporters. But this is our old friend the "household fallacy", as if economies should somehow resemble hard-working thrifty families. The word used in the German political and media debate for fiscal cuts is "Sparen", meaning to save. The confusion is embedded in the language, and therefore by the 'Sapir–Whorf hypothesis' in German thought as well.