Bandsalat

Bandsalat is a German word that literally means "tape salad." It refers to the state of magnetic tape used in recording devices, such as audio cassette players or VCRs, that has come out of the cassette and become tangled. In the case of compact cassettes, the tape can also be damaged inside the cassette itself, by fast-forwarding and rewinding, or uneven tape that is too loose or too tight while winding. No longer smooth magnetic tapes increase the circumference of a roll and can produce bandsalat. Often bandsalat is the result of a faulty tape transport system within the machine playing tape.
For a provisional remedy of a bandsalat usually a pen with the appropriate diameter, in compact cassettes typically a pencil (ideally with hexagonal shape, similar in function to a hex key), can be inserted into the opening of the tape reel, and run from the spool. The tape is then rewound by turning the pen.
With the wide spread popularity of CDs and DVDs, this type of technical disruption has been increasingly forgotten. Therefore, the word bandsalat was added to the list of endangered words in 2006.
On the TV show Genial daneben on February 19, 2005, the question "What is a bandsalat?" was asked. The question was answered and explained as a switching contact in a film camera, which senses the mechanical tension of the film and triggers the stop of the film transport in a torn film and prevents a "film salad".

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