In honour of the day: how to talk like a German pirate.

You have to have lived here for a while before you can understand this kind of thing.

I’ve added to the blogroll love german books, a weblog by a translator in Berlin. Good links to sites on German books, their translators, literary prizes and so on.

I mentioned Charlotte Roche’s bestseller Feuchtgebiete earlier. It’s now being translated into English as Wetlands, by Tim Mohr, who is apparently from New York and spent six years as a DJ in Berlin (for more, see the weblog love german books).

This was mentioned in two weblogs I follow, by Werner Siebers and Dirk Nolte, who both quote the Swiss source 20minuten.ch, which in turn quotes Bild.

Bild has a list of terms for which an English equivalent had to be invented. I’m not sure why Perlenrüssel (clitoris) should not become pearl trunk but snail tail. And Hahnenkämme for inner labia translated as dewlap – a term usually applied either to cattle or people with huge double chins – is extremely bizarre.

What really led me to add another entry to the heap, however, was this text on the Swiss site:

Und wo wir gerade beim anderen Geschlechtsteil sind: Das für die Vagina benutzte Wort «Perlenrüssel» wird zu «snail tail», was soviel wie Schneckenschwanz bedeutet. «Klingt gut und ist ein schönes Bild für die Klitoris», meint Mohr.

Do the Swiss not distinguish between vagina and clitoris? Or have I missed something in my education?

Granta interview with Charlotte Roche.

This advert for legal expenses insurance appeared in the print edition of Stern last week:

The small print says that Dr. Wolfgang P.J. Peters is one of 1800 attorneys who work on behalf of the insurance company. In fact, he can be seen online in video clips giving advice.

What I don’t understand is what the message is behind the photo of him, which might even be a photoshopped version of the picture on his website:

Does it mean they will help you if you break your glasses?

And judging from the plaster, it looks as if he was lucky not to break both lenses.

From the website Typography for Lawyers:

Some lessons on this website will involve discretionary choices. This one is mandatory.

You must always put exactly one space between sentences.

I understand that many people were taught early in life to double-space their sentences. I was too. But double-spacing is a habit held over from the typewriter age. It has never been part of standard typography. Because typewriter fonts were unusually proportioned, a double space helped set off sentences better. Today, since we don’t use typewriter fonts, double spaces aren’t necessary or desirable.

Let’s see that paragraph again, but with double spaces:

I understand that many people were taught early in life to double-space their sentences. I was too. But double-spacing is a habit held over from the typewriter age. It has never been part of standard typography. Because typewriter fonts were unusually proportioned, a double space helped set off sentences better. Today, since we don’t use typewriter fonts, double spaces aren’t necessary or desirable.

Do you see the problem? The extra spaces between sentences disrupt the overall balance of white space in the paragraph.

You have to look at the website to see the difference!

(Via the (new) legal writer)