What’s a sofa bed? / Was ist eine Schlafcouch?

Ein englischer Richter in einem langen Betrugsprozess wusste nicht, was eine Schlafcouch ist.

bq. Despite having the concept described to him the judge failed to grasp the basics, asking again “But how can a bed be turned into a sofa?”.

Judge Sneddon Cripps (Sneddon ist wohl der Vorname) ist nicht der erste, der nicht alles versteht. Andere von anderen Richtern nicht verstandene Sachen: Linford Christies “lunchbox”, B & Q und Gazza. Definitionen u.a. hier:

bq. It’s all British stuff.
B&Q sells stuff for home improvement, Gazza is Paul Gascoigne (footballer) and Linford Christie’s lunchbox refers to the 1992 100m Olympic champion’s genitals.

Another summary:

bq. Mr Justice Harman probably set the gold standard for magisterial aloofness in 1990, when he appeared to have no idea who Paul Gascoigne was.
Gazza, then at the height of his post Italia ’90 fame, was suing Penguin Books for publishing an “unauthorised biography”.
Comic timing
The footballer’s lawyer Michael Silverleaf began his submission by saying: “Mr Gascoigne is a very well-known footballer.”
“Rugby or Association?” asked the judge, with impeccable comic timing.
Later, during evidence, Justice Harman again interrupted: “Isn’t there an operetta called La Gazza Ladra?”
“I could not say, my lord,” replied Mr Silverleaf.

Von RollOnFriday

8 thoughts on “What’s a sofa bed? / Was ist eine Schlafcouch?

  1. >>B&Q sells stuff for home improvement, Gazza is Paul Gascoigne (footballer) and Linford Christie’s lunchbox refers to the 1992 100m Olympic champion’s genitals.

  2. Well, I did. Have to learn English, I mean. And while it is certainly difficult to master all its subtleties, it is said to be one of the easier languages to learn, at least up to a certain (more or less basic) level.

    Having said that, I had no idea who “Gazza” was. (And I had not heard of Rossini’s opera “The Thieving Magpie”, either.) On the other hand, I conceptually understand the sofa bed, so it all evens out in the end, I suppose.

  3. I don’t suppose a judge needs to know all of this, but since Gazza was in the daily papers regularly, it is a bit odd. And I suppose he had no time for or interest in DIY … I suppose when he mentioned the Rossini he was making a joke to deflect from the audience reaction at his ignorance earlier.

  4. Maragret

    On the subject of “lunchboxes” ….is it pure coincidence that your blog page now has the following flash at the bottom:

    >>Lunchbox?
    Clear and Consice Guide to Different Types of Lunch Bags…wisegeek.com

  5. Yes, it does pick up the page’s content, which is quite amusing sometimes. As long as it doesn’t advertise Linford Christie’s genitals I don’t mind.
    I am sure I can block ads if I want to. I have sometimes wondered if I should block ads for legal translation, especially by those who appear incompetent to do it.
    I know adverts irritate some people. I tell myself they pay for running the site. On the permalink page, before the comments, I now have a different type of Google ad, a text ad, that links to several sites all about sofa beds, for instance. I imagine those are more interesting than the single ones.

  6. Margaret, the ads are sometimes very amusing indeed. I wonder what will appear in response to “crap translations”? ;.)

  7. I have a sneaking suspicion that Google doesn’t want me to try that out with its ads. How about Outhouse Translations (as opposed to in-house translations)?
    If you want to see a funny collection of ads, you should look at Des or Trevor, where the content is very variable.

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