A bit off topic this, but still. The Sunday Times reports that A.N.Wilson was delighted to record in his biography that John Betjeman had a more exciting love life than previously thought.

bq. The letter begins: “Darling Honor, I loved yesterday. All day I’ve thought of nothing else. No other love I’ve had means so much.”
Later on in the letter the poet waxed that “love has given me a miss for so long and now this miracle has happened. Sex is a part of it, of course.”
Betjeman then ended the letter: “Tinkerty-tonk, my Darling. I pray I’ll hear from you tomorrow. If I don’t I’ll visit your office in a fake beard. All love, JB.”
Close study of the letter, however, shows that the capital letters at the beginning of each sentence spell out a message: “AN Wilson is a shit”.

There is more to the story, and if he didn’t deny it, one might almost believe the hoax was done by a fellow-Betjeman-biographer who can’t stand Wilson. The evidence came from an untraceable address on the Côte D’Azur. Well, it can’t have been Joe Orton or Peter Cook. At all events, it was too late to remove the story from Wilson’s book.

Your results:
You are Hulk

Hulk 65% Spider-Man 65% Catwoman 60% Robin 50% Batman 40% Iron Man 40% Supergirl 35% Wonder Woman 30% Green Lantern 30% Superman 30% The Flash 20%

You are a wanderer with amazing strength.

(Via Vorspeisenplatte)

A discussion of two books to help foreigners adapt to Germany shows it is not easy to tell them about cultural differences. Pictures in one book ridicule the non-German behaviour (including two men kissing as a greeting, someone spitting on the pavement, and a man walking ahead of his wife).

Gemäß dem Integrationsgesetz wird die Integration Ausländer in die BRD gefördert. Hier z.B. bei der Stadt Regensburg:

bq. Der Integrationskurs umfasst einen Basis- und einen Aufbausprachkurs von jeweils gleicher Dauer zur Erlangung ausreichender Sprachkenntnisse sowie einen Orientierungskurs zur Vermittlung von Kenntnissen der Rechtsordnung, der Kultur und der Geschichte in Deutschland.

Ich habe schon mal das Handbuch zu Deutschland erwähnt.

In den Nürnberger Nachrichten (nur Print) bespricht Ursula Persak zwei Bücher: 30 Stunden Deutschland, Klett Sprachen Verlag, und Zur Orientierung. Deutschland in 30 Stunden, Hueber Verlag.

Nach den Beispielen zu schließen (auf den Verlagsseiten auch Auszüge) wird es doch etwas peinlich, wenn man kulturelle Unterschiede mit Ausländern bespricht oder durch Bilder ihnen klarmachen will, wie sie sich verhalten sollten. Hier eine halbe Seite aus 30 Stunden Deutschland (klicken, um Bild zu vergrößern):

In the Texas Appellate Advocate, summer 2006, there’s an article, Legalese in the Age of IM (Instant Messaging) by Roger Hughes suggesting SMS abbreviations for judges and lawyers:

ASSA = assuming arguendo
WADR = with all due respect
MIPC = May it please the Court
THJTC = The Honorable Justices of This Court
OFG = Open the flood gates
2SL = slippery slope
ATC = all things considered

and so on. More in the comments (e.g. IKIWICI: I know it when I see it). We are informed:

bq. Mr. Hughes had his sense of humor surgically removed before graduating in 1977 from the University of Texas School of Law. His lack of drollery lead directly to being board certified in Civil Appellate Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. He can be found puzzling over witticisms and double-entendres at Adams & Graham, L.L.P., in Harlingen, Texas. He wishes to
thank contributions from his colleagues whose humor is not similarly impaired: Don Wittig, Doug Alexander, Roger Townsend, Scott Clark, and the editors.

Here’s a less legal dictionary of SMS, BuzzWhack.

Via Forensic Linguistics list and Wall Street Journal law blog.

August 16:

August 21:

There’s one on flickr too. A commenter says: probably Laetiporus sulphureus (sulphur shelf fungus). Elsewhere I find the name chicken of the woods. And it looks as if people are eating it in Seattle. Schwefelporling – Speisewert: essbar (they don’t say if it tastes OK): I even found it in my mushroom book, and they say I should have taken it when it was bright yellow and juicy, and it is an exception to the rule that tree fungi are usually of no interest to the cook. The older it gets, the drier it becomes.