Matthew Baldwin of The Morning News reports – or reported – that Spanish-speaking drivers have been getting out of drunk driving cases because of a deficiency in Spanish-language cards used by traffic cops:

bq. “But the defense somehow got a copy of the Spanish language card that the officer read from, and noticed that the little squiggle was missing from above an ‘n’ in the sentence: ‘¿Tiene veinteuno años?’ In English that literally translates to ‘Do you have 21 years?’—in other words, this was just a routine question to make sure the guy was an adult.

This sounds apocryphal, but I can’t trace it at Snopes. But parts sound convincing:

bq. “The best part is that the defense attorney can’t even bring himself to say the word ‘anus.’ Instead, he calls it ‘the back region.’ We’re going in front of a judge next week, and I’m going to make a point of saying the word ‘anus’ as many times as I can during the proceeding. I even got them to call the legal brief ‘The Anus Motion,’ so he won’t even be able to refer to it by title.

Here’s a warning for those interviewing and writing about Latinos.

(Via the Forensic Linguistics mailing list)

The European Court of Justice calendar for today:

bq. Third Chamber

09.30 : Hearing C-321/03 Dyson
Approximation of laws
Interpretation of Article 3(3) of Directive 89/104/EEC: First Council Directive of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks – Mark comprising a functional feature (transparent plastic cylinder) forming part of a hoover [sic]

(Pointed out by IPKat)

At least they didn’t call it a dyson.
I remember a student in a dictation referring to small birds hoovering over the meadows, but further curious usage is touched on in Wiktionary. I don’t think the noun is generic, is it, even if the verb may be?

The Hamburg Landgericht (a bit like the High Court in England and Wales) recently published the grounds for its December decision in what we might call Mario Dolzer v. Heise Verlag. Here’s how The Register put it:

bq. A Hamburg court has ruled that moderators of internet forums are liable for content posted on their sites.
The previous interpretation held that they were only accountable for illegal content they had been made aware of. The new ruling means if operators do not have enough in-house resources to monitor forums, they should “reduce the scope of their business operations”.

I read the decision and some commentaries on it. It’s being appealed, so it isn’t final. Still, I don’t really know:

how far its reach is (Sascha Kremer suggests it is about forums with editorial content)

whether it affects forums without a foot in Germany (it seems clear there are lawyers in Germany permitted and inclined to make like difficult for all and sundry, but would a Welsh rugby forum have difficulties here?)

will a lot of weblog owners with controversial discussions be sued, whether or not successfully?

what is the effect of what I would call a lot of obiter dicta in a country theoretically without a system of precedent? (Actually there is a lot of judge-made law in Germany, just as there was in the Gründerjahre)

Here is the decision in German (with typos)
Heise in English
The German American Law Journal Blog in English (headed ‘Massively chilled speech’ – but surely what Heise permitted was the equivalent of shouting Fire! in a crowded theatre?=
Sascha Kremer in German (was also on lawblog)
Dr. Martin Bahr in German

This case is familiar to students of English law largely because of its facts.

I was reminded of it by a slightly similar Australian case cited on Wordorigins.

I took this photo on April 1, but to some people it isn’t a joke.

ProZ.com has now opened Wikiwords for general use. It’s based on translation suggestions collected at ProZ (KudoZ).

bq. One warning: our focus now is on the mechanisms, and we are not concerning ourselves with content–or quality–yet. So contributions you make now are likely to get wiped at the end of the beta period.

It sounds as if they’re just trying out the mechanics first. When Kudoz entries help me, it’s often in the original context, with all the answers and discussions. I wonder if that will enter the dictionary?

You can register and enter terms, which may remain marked as your collection. Some of this material will presumably be plagiarized – a specific collection of terms used in an online dictionary making money for someone
I find these collections great, with many of the very terms I happen to need. The suggestions may be excellent or lousy, but I can decide that for myself: after all, the user has to be informed enough to separate the wheat from the chaff, whatever the reference consulted.

Here’s a quote from the ProZ newsletter, just received:

bq. Yesterday, ProZ.com announced Wikiwords, a project to create a comprehensive and open dictionary of all terms in all languages. The initial response has been dramatic.
At this point, comments on the approach, suggestions on licensing terms, and any other feedback (however harsh) will be appreciated. All those interested in playing a part (terminologists, project managers, developers, designers), are invited to express interest via the website.
A warning: our immediate focus is on the mechanisms, and we are not concerning ourselves with content–or quality–just yet. Terms and translations contributed now are likely to get wiped out at the end of the beta testing period.
Wikiwords – all terms, all languages, built by you. Let’s get started!

(via the enigmatic Maria Eugênia Farré, the founder and moderator of Glosspost, the glossary list at Yahoo)