It’s been widely reported that Laura Saperstein, who grew up in Australia and was a lawyer in Australia and later at Freshfields in London, has become a professional boxer. She was unbeaten in her ten amateur fights and won her first professional bout recently. The Law Society Gazette has an article on her.

Ms Saperstein grew up near Byron Bay in Australia, but a lack of money and sponsorship killed her youthful dreams of becoming a professional surfer, so instead she eventually began studying law, finishing university with a first-class honours degree.

‘That gave me the chance to work pretty much where I wanted. I worked in criminal law for a while but did not enjoy it much. In 2001, I realised I could triple my earnings if I did corporate law in London and thought I might as well get paid as much as I could. I worked as a mergers and acquisitions solicitor at Freshfields for three years. It was a good salary but long hours – 14-hour days – and a lot of pressure.

‘It was a real prestige job, flying business class around Europe to lead negotiations and the firm paying for everything, but I didn’t like being stuck in an office working for other people. I was a long way from family and friends back home and did not have a support network.’

However, you don’t have to give up the law. Sara Davies (who grew up in Canada) is a partner in a family law firm and boxes in her spare time.

From John Mesirow’s Legal Juice

Ananova reports that there was a pronunciation error in the singing of the Croatian national anthem before the England-Croatia match on Wednesday. Why was a British singer singing Croatian anyway?

The British singer who sang the Croatian anthem before last night’s match accidentally sang ‘My penis is a mountain’. …

The national anthem is written in old style Croatian, and there can be slightly different interpretations in English because it is a very lyrical language.

The line in which Henry slipped up should have been “mila kuda si planina” (You know my dear how we love your mountains).

But what he actually sang was “mila kura si planina” which means “Dear Penis, you are a Mountain” or “My Dear, my penis is a mountain”.

This does sound a bit fishy, like the story of Kennedy and the ‘jam doughnut’, destined to go down in the annals of rubbish talked about foreign languages. However, a number of Croats are referred to or quoted, and there was some giggling among Croats (however lyrical ‘old style Croatian’ is – one wonders exactly what is meant here: is it like Middle English or Old High German?). So perhaps it’s just a story to deflect attention from more depressing matters.

Comments referring to ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ may be deleted for boredom factor.

(Via Céline)

Stöckchen

I got this meme from Thomas Klotz, who got it from Larko.

1. Es sind nur 5 Seiten.

2. I am nice Russian girl that would like to chat with you.

3. Darf’s noch was sein, “junge Frau”?

4. Politiker tritt “aus Privatgründen” zurück.

5. One size fits all.

6. That looks good on you, madam.

7. Evolution, not revolution. (Steve McClaren)

I can find seven statements, but I don’t know who to pass it to. This meme is passed on to everyone who is interested!

Some organizations look for the English word of the year.

In Germany, the search is for the Unwort (non-word) of the year. Bremer Sprachblog points out that people often suggest words that refer to phenomena they don’t like, for instance Kopftuchverbot (headscarf ban). The word itself is unexceptionable.

Last year’s expression (Wort can mean a single word or a phrase) was freiwillige Ausreise. If kraut means a German, then we foreigners must be Unkraut.

Looking at the list of words since 1991, it’s interesting that more than one of them has to do with foreigners.

The Bremer Sprachblog entry points out that Kopftuchverbot is recommended by Muslim organizations, but is rejected because it is a correct word referring to an Unding. But last year’s freiwillige Ausreise was exactly the same, except that it was not recommended by Muslims.

Dabei kommt mir eine Unidee. Die „Sprachkritische Aktion“ schränkt in ihrer Pressemeldung den Teilnehmerkreis stilsicher ein:

Vorschläge können von allen Deutschsprachigen im In- und Ausland gemacht werden.

Warum schließt man Muslime nicht einfach mit der Begründung aus, dass sie per Definition keine „Deutschsprachigen“ sind?

Döner365.de is beginning to build up a database where people can record and give stars to their local döner sellers.

What I want is one that tells me if I can get döner with lamb in Franconia. At least I can get beef, but most of them have gone over to turkey (do they think it sounds like home?)

(via RA J. Melchior)

Die FTD berichtet, dass in Deutschland (Berlin ist eine Ausnahme) Fernbusse mit der Bahn nicht konkurrieren dürfen (§ 13 Personenbeförderungsgesetz)

Wenn die Lokführer der Bahn den Fernverkehr lahm legen, bieten Busse keine Ausweichmöglichkeiten. Ein uraltes Gesetz verhindert, dass Busunternehmer der Deutschen Bahn im Fernverkehr Konkurrenz machen.

The Financial Times Deutschland reports that an old statute prevents coaches competing with the railway on long-distance stretches. Berlin is the exception that proves the rule.

The provision dates from 1931, when income from the railways was needed to finance WWI reparations – so perhaps it’s all down to Versailles.

This explains the lack of a coach service from Erlangen to Fürth. This would be very welcome in the evening, when the trains are far apart. There comes a time when having another drink is a question of whether one wants to stay for an hour.

(Via Vorspeisenplatte)