Lewis Gordon Pugh, who is or has been a maritime lawyer, is swimming down the Thames in stages, reports the Telegraph. He has a support boat with someone to drive away territorial swans and other hazards.

bq. The most dangerous thing will be things like unseen shopping trolleys just below the surface.

Could one do something with sonar?

A problem at the beginning of the trip was the absence of water in this hot weather. But 19 miles further downstream the river was deep enough to swim in.

Map and diary here.

Germany can offer Matthias Prinz and the triathlon.

bq. BL: Warum Triathlon?
Prinz: Als ich die rechtliche Betreuung des Teams Telekom übernahm, haben mich die Jungs überredet, doch mal mit zu trainieren – und haben mich mit ihrer Radbegeisterung angesteckt. Zuvor bin ich überwiegend gelaufen oder geschwommen. Triathlon war also die logische Konsequenz. Heute habe ich vier bis fünf Sprint-Triathlons und fünf olympische Distanzen hinter mir und würde unheimlich gerne mal längere Strecken hinter mich bringen. Aber dazu müsste ich viel mehr Rad fahren. Und die Zeit habe ich nicht.

Thanks to Trevor.

The Wordy Birdy Speech Trainer takes the effort out of teaching your – or someone else’s – parrot interesting words.

This device allows you to record what you would like your bird to say and repeat it over a time period from 1 minute to 80 minutes.

(Via Gizmodo)

The German American Law Journal Blog mentions (in German) a recent U.S. Court of Appeals Second Circuit case between Dr. Leo Kirch and Liberty Media in which the translation of the German man as the English you was queried.

The subject of the litigation was the role of an interview, held in German and translated into and published in English, in undermining public confidence in KirchGroup.

bq. [GALJ] Kern der Berufungsentscheidung ist die strittige Übersetzung des im Englischen unbekannten deutschen Wortes man, das Breuer gegenüber dem Journalisten benutzte, aaO 30. Die Nuancen der Sprache spielen eine so bedeutende Rolle, dass ein deutsches Gericht eher zu seiner Würdigung berufen sein könnte, deutet das Berufungsgericht an.

bq. [Case report] The parties dispute the proper translation of Breuer’s words. In his brief, Kirch asserts that Breuer’s “use of the term ‘you’ [in the phrase “all that you can hear and read about”] rather than ‘I’ is somewhat dissembling in being more general than just Breuer.” Kirch Br. at 32. The defendants respond by pointing out that the German pronoun “man” is a third person impersonal pronoun more analogous to “anyone” than to “you.” Deutsch Bank Br. at 22-24. According to the Deutsche Bank defendants, this makes even clearer the fact that Breuer was basing his comments on public knowledge. Without more than we have, though, it is hard for us to make a sound judgment as to which is the proper nuance of the German phrase.

Here’s the relevant interview (MM bold):

bq. Q. It is more a question of whether someone will help him to carry on.
A. I believe this is relatively questionable. All that you can hear and read about this is that the financial sector is not willing to provide further
debt or equity under current conditions. Hence, only third parties could be interested in a -– as you phrased it -– support action.
Q. Thank you very much, Rolf Breuer.

I haven’t read this in full or investigated it further, and I can’t even say how important it was in the case. At first glance, it looks like a reasonable translation, but it is an interesting example of the potential legal implications of translating such a word.

to execute a will = ausfertigen

Dietl has this right a lot of the time, but it does have

Testamentsvollstreckung: execution of a will

Dangerous! Romain knows better: executorship (but probably one can manage without the abstract noun). Take that, you people who sneer at Romain! (and thanks to Donna)

Execution has three meanings in English:

To quote the Oxford Dictionary of Law, now in its 6th edition (2006)

bq. Execution 1) The process of carrying out a sentence of death imposed by a court …
2) The enforcement of the rights of a judgment creditor …
3) The completion of the formalities necessary for a written document to become legally valid. In the case of a deed, for example, this comprises the signing and delivery of the document. [sealing is no longer required for a deed]

bq. Execution of a will: Under section 9 of the Wills Act 1837, the will must be signed at the end by the testator or by someone authorized by him, and the signature must be made or acknowledged by the testator in the present of at least two witnesses, present at the same time, who must themselves sign the will or acknowledge their signatures in the testator’s presence.

It’s confusing because the executor is the Testamentsvollstrecker (such an entity is essential in the common law, but just the icing on the cake in German law), not to be confused with the executioner (Henker, Scharfrichter).

Potatoes mit Zaziki. Nordostbad, Nuremberg, 15 July.