Someone has been lying to the Fürther Nachrichten again, in this case to Volker Dittmar about the lockers at the new thermal baths:

Natürlich ist das Fürthermare eine Klasse für sich. Dazu gehört die Körper und Geist gleichermaßen fordernde Aufnahmeprüfung. Wer es geschafft hat, mit der eingesprungenen Waage die Türen der Umkleidekabine zuzudrücken und gleichzeitig den Schließbügel umzulegen, hat praktisch das Vordiplom schon in der Tasche. Er braucht dann nur noch den Intelligenztest, mit dem Magnetismus des Spindschlosses zu bestehen, um die höheren Fürthermare-Weihen zu erhalten. Weil aller guten Dinge drei sind, muss man allerdings die Schranknummer auf der persönlichen Festplatte speichern, um nach erfolgreichem Einweichen wieder an die deponierten Kleider zu kommen – was bei etlichen hundert identischen Türen schon eine reife Kulturleistung darstellt. Allerdings gibt es eine wunderbare Absicherung gegen Gedächtnislücken: Auf dem Belegzettel, den man am Eingang zusammen mit dem Sesam-öffne-dich-Chip in die Flossen gedrückt bekommt, ist ein Code vermerkt, über den der belegte Kleiderschrank ausfindig gemacht werden kann. Pech nur, wenn der Beleg im Spind deponiert wurde. Dann bewahrheitet sich einmal mehr der Spruch, dass Fürth nicht anzieht, aber festhält.

He is quite right that closing both doors of the cubicle simultaneously is more than a warm-up exercise. But my experience with the locker was completely different: I got a plastic wristband with a chip embedded. I used this to open a locker, number 454. After I’d closed it, I wondered if I could remember the number. But there is a device you hold the armband against that shows you the number. I intend to choose an easy number like 200 or 300 next time in case this device ever breaks down. It took a while to find someone to tell me which lockers were not in use and how to open the ones that weren’t. And I have been to a number of thermal baths once only, but their systems were always easier to use than this (possibly because you can buy extra things with your chip, like food or entrance to the sauna or the Solegrotte.

But the FN quote above says that the number of your locker is on your receipt. Is that true? Maybe it is, and you can keep the receipt outside the locker.

It’s unfortunate IMO that there is so much rivalry with the place in Stein that now calls itself Kristall Palm Beach and has a bizarre mixture of Hawaii / ancient Egypt / stones and crystals imagery. The competition seems to drive both enterprises in the direction of giant saunas, where Palm Beach just happened to open what it calls the largest sauna in the world yesterday. Nürnberger Nachrichten:

Im Saunadorf des Spaßbades «Palm Beach» in Stein bei Nürnberg haben 526 Gäste zusammen einen Weltrekord im Saunabaden aufgestellt. … Fünf Saunaöfen, deren Leistung zum Beheizen von zehn Einfamilienhäusern ausreicht, hatten den Raum auf 70 Grad temperiert. Nach einem Aufguss mussten die dicht Gedrängten fünf Minuten lang in der Hitze ausharren. Ein Notar bezeugte anschließend den Erfolg des Rekordversuchs.

I wonder what a notary’s fee is for confirming that 526 people stayed in a sauna for 5 minutes.

Jean-Christophe Helary has started an English blog on Mac for translators. And a French one too.

(Via Sonja)

LATER NOTE: See also TransMUG (recommended in a comment that got deleted when I exported and reimported my SQL database – sorry about that).

The Talking Law Dictionary mentioned a few days ago is accompanied by a CD-ROM with famous lawyers from all over pronouncing terms. When you look up a term, you can see a photo and bio of the speaker. Some notes:

Why have a Scottish lawyer, albeit one who sat in the House of Lords for many years, pronounce trust terms?
cestui que trust
Of course, Lord Hope of Craighead also pronounces wherefore with the hw at the beginning, which may work well in the USA too.

que should sound like kee, cestui like setter, not chetty. After checking with some colleagues, I concluded it should be pronounced (in Britain) settee key trust, but that in order to know this, you have to have heard it from someone at a law school.

pur autre vie is pronounced by Stephen Breyer – I presume the end of autre is different from the English pronunciation there (sounds French rather than ‘oter’)

autrefois acquit / convict: same remark, Irish speaker

Association of Australian Magistrates – pronounced by an Australian. Great listening

lien – correctly two syllables (I didn’t realize that Konrad Schiemann lost both his parents in WWII and lived in the UK from the age of nine)

ab initio? Lord Rodger of Earlferry volenti non fit injuria

No pronunciation for Taoiseach, cathaoirleach or ceann comhairle

Mary Arden, who should know more about this than I do, pronounces capias with a short initial a (cappius, not caypius) – ah, but Konrad Schiemann has it right in writ of capias. On the other hand, you can hear two American pronunciations of process (short o), but have to go to Mary Arden’s legal process to hear the British version.

This is a small dictionary and one sometimes wonders what some of the vocabulary is doing there. I didn’t realize, but suspected, that waste of time is a legal term. Nor did I realize that the plural of tipstaff is tipstaves.

Many German words are pronounced too, but most of the English and German words pronounced are really not a problem. Still, it’s fun to hear someone say Abänderungsklage and at the same time see their photo and bio.

I sometimes wonder if the Scots know how they are used in German advertising. (Note tartan paper on wall inside shop).

Die Kornweihe ist auf der roten Liste der geschützten Vögel, in Großbritannien (in England gibt es nur etwa 20 Brutpaare – jetzt vielleicht noch weniger – in Deutschland auch kaum 50).

Prinz Harry und ein Freund haben vielleicht zwei getötet.

Meistens folgt eine Gefängnissstrafe – video interview with Chief Constable of North Wales Police.

The British press report that Prince Harry and a friend are suspected of killing two. The Independent:

Prince Harry and a close friend have been questioned by police after two rare birds of prey were killed while they were out shooting on the royal family’s Sandringham estate.

The pair were thought to be the only people hunting on the Norfolk estate last Wednesday when witnesses at a nature reserve on the edge of the land saw two hen harriers shot down as they flew over.

Hen harriers are rare in England where it is estimated there are only 20 breeding pairs. They are legally protected and the killing of one carries a six-month jail sentence or a £5,000 fine.

The RSPB says that in October and November, Continental birds will join residents.

RSPB statement today.

I don’t know exactly what the law is, but it is probably the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 – Schedule 1 has a list of birds protected at all times. See UK statute law database.

This whole story is a pun waiting to happen. Let’s watch the British press (Harry harries harriers?).

Reviewer’s letter to TLS, September 14, 2007:

Sir, – In my review of David Crystal’s How Language Works (July 20), the word ‘linguist’ was replaced by ‘linguistician’ throughout, without my permission. ‘Linguistician’ is a term which I would never use myself. People who do linguistics are known as linguists. In the review I used the phrase ‘linguistic researchers’ in the first sentence to make clear what sort of linguist I was referring to (since ‘linguist’ can also mean someone skilled in foreign languages).

Jennifer Coats, Department of English Language & Linguistics, Roehampton University, London SW15