Bad news that Viktor Yushchenko was poisoned, but nice to hear the Austrian doctor. Some of the local colour got lost in translation, however.

Der Standard (Juschtschenko):

bq. “Wir schließen ab mit der Zusatzdiagnose ‘Verdacht auf Fremdverschulden'”, sagte Zimpfer weiter. Eine weitere Abklärung obliege den zuständigen Behörden. In Blut und Gewebe des Patienten habe man mindestens das Tausendfache der normalen Konzentration gefunden. “Das entspricht einer Dosierung im Milligramm-Bereich bzw. im unteren Gramm-Bereich und ist sehr leicht z.B. in eine Schlagoberssuppe zu verpacken.” Auf Grund der Schäden im Verdauungstrakt gehe man von einer Einnahme über den Mund aus. “Ob er das gegessen oder getrunken hat, ist nicht herauszuarbeiten und macht auch keinen Unterschied”, so Zimpfer weiter.

The Guardian:

bq. “We suspect involvement of an external party, but we cannot answer as to who cooked what or who was with him while he ate,” Zimpfer said, adding that tests showed the dioxin was taken orally.
Zimpfer said Yushchenko’s blood and tissue registered concentrations of dioxin 1,000 times above normal levels.
“It would be quite easy to administer this amount in a soup,” Zimpfer said.

BBC News:

bq. It is still not clear whether the poisoning was deliberate, though Dr Zimpfer said it was likely to have been caused by “a third party”.
The question of who was responsible was a matter for the judicial authorities, he said.
Dr Zimpfer said the substance was soluble and could have been administered in something like soup.

I seem to miss the Schlagoberssuppe. Schlagobers or Obers is Austrian for cream.

Try this:

Here are some sample pages.

Klaus Zwerger’s ‘Das Holz und seine Verbindungen’ compares wood joints in Japan and 18 European countries. It was translated by Philip Thrift as ‘Wood and Wood Joints‘. The hardback appeared in 1997 and there was a second print run and later paperback editions. Philip recommends it ‘For anybody who has had to cut the odd mitre or housing or some other woodworking joint’.

The subject came up on an internal ITI mailing list when the following context was given for the word Gratleiste:

‘Durch das Einarbeiten von Gratleisten wird ein Verziehen großer
Holzoberflächen eingeschränkt.’

The translator’s problem was that she knew what the thing was (a piece of flashing or a batten fitted into a furrow drilled across the grain of the wood, to stop the wood warping; only used in quality furniture) and had found several suggestions for it, but she did not know which, if any, of those suggestions was right.

The list suggested: burr, flash, hip rafter, arris fillet, tilting fillet (see sign language dictionary!), metal bracket, and purfling (around the edge of a violin), and for Gratleiste der Schwalbenschwanzgverbindung: dovetail key, wooden clamp.

Fortunately a list member whose husband is a furniture designer suggested fillet, and that the cut across the grain is called a housing rather than a groove; and Philip Thrift made a suggestion at the same time: fortunately these experts agreed with each other.

(Posted as an example of a translator’s daily queries)

When the attorney Becky Klemt Macmillan in Laramie, Wyoming wrote to fellow-attorney Stephen G. Corris in Irvine, California asking him to enforce a judgment, she was not expecting the reply she received:

bq. Without sounding pretentious, my current retainer for cases is a flat $100,000, with an additional charge of $1,000 per hour. Since I specialize in international trade and geopolitical relations between the Middle East and Europe, my clientele is very unique and limited, and I am afraid I am unable to accept other work at this time.

Ms Klemt need not have spent time on a reply, but her letter is described as the most-photocopied lawyer’s letter in the USA. An excerpt:

bq. Steve, I’ve got news—you can’t say you charge a $100,000.00 retainer fee and an additional $1,000.00 an hour without sounding pretentious. It just can’t be done. Especially when you’re writing to someone in Laramie, Wyoming where you’re considered pretentious if you wear socks to Court or drive anything fancier than a Ford Bronco. Hell, Steve, all the lawyers in Laramie, put together, don’t charge $1,000.00 an hour. …

bq. Another thing you should know, Steve, is that the firm has an extensive foreign language background, which I believe would be useful to you. Hoke took Latin in high school, although he hasn’t used it much inasmuch as he did not become a pharmacist or a priest. Vonnie Nagel took high school German, while Paul has eaten in Italian restaurants. I, myself, majored in French in college, until I realized that probably wasn’t the smartest career move in the world. I’ve forgotten such words as “international” and “geopolitical” (which I’m not too familiar with in English), but I can still hail a taxi or find a restroom, which might come in handy.

bq. Steve, let us know when we should join you in California so that we can begin doing whatever it is you do.

Read the rest here. The Laramie firm is Pence & MacMillan. Steve Corris’s real hourly rate was apparently $500. And the judgment has still not been enforced. Via Bag & Baggage, here and here.

According to the Independent, a bill is being introduced in Britain to put an end to the male primogeniture system. This would affect Prince William’s children, it’s said. Also note the past examples given at the end of the article.

bq. Almost 30 years after the passage of the Sex Discrimination Act, aimed to ensure equality between the sexes, an attempt is to be made to end the system of male primogeniture. Lord Dubs, a Labour peer and former minister, will today publish a Succession to the Crown Bill, which would also abolish the bar on the monarch or an heir to the throne marrying a Catholic and scrap the 1772 Royal Marriages Act, which requires the heir to get the monarch’s permission before marrying.

Just a reminder: November 20th:

And here is December 7th:

I hadn’t said anything about the term, and I don’t think they read my weblog, but I mentioned the change and got the rather sheepish information that they had decided to turn the W upside down and that Wisbeln was indeed not a Franconian term.

Some of the medlars had already bletted, a term discussed in the comments to my last entry and also at Uncle Jazzbeau’s Gallimaufrey and at Giornale Nuovo; in the comments to the latter are links to crude wordplay in ‘Romeo and Juliet’. And yes, they do look like rose-hips in shape. Uncle Jazzbeau also has a link to an entry on persimmons by Laura Limay, saying that one type of persimmon has to blet.

I have now tasted them. The peel can’t be eaten, nor can the 4 or 5 hard stones in each. The brown pulp tastes like a cross between baked apple and bread pudding – not very sour, not very sweet, but apple-like.

The question now is: do they go off? The novel quoted at Gionale Nuovo suggests an effort was made to keep them in the right state of rottenness over winter.

Sorry about the poor focus: bletted on the left, unready on the right, and on the far right a stone, which can be opened only with nutcrackers or a hammer.

Manche beeidigte Übersetzer verbinden mehrseitige Übersetzungen mit Notariatsfaden in der Landesfarbe. Was in Bayern akzeptiert oder erwartet wird, hat ein Rechtspfleger in Niedersachsen gerügt – er drohte einer Übersetzerin mit Entziehung der Beeidigung. Er argumentierte, dass Notare ihre Urkunden mit Kanzleischnur und Prägesiegel versehen müssen, und daraus könnte man folgern, dass Übersetzer dies nicht tun dürfen. (Besprechung in der jur_Übs Yahoogruppe).

If anyone wants to use this thread in the colours of their Bundesland, here are the colours:

Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hessen, Thüringen: rot/weiß
Baden-Württemberg: schwarz/gold
Niedersachsen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Saarland: schwarz/rot/gold
Schleswig-Holstein: blau/weiß/rot
Bayern: blau/weiß
Sachsen: grün/weiß
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: blau/weiß/gelb
Sachsen-Anhalt: schwarz/gelb
Nordrhein-Westfalen: grün/weiß/rot
Europa: blau/gelb

You can get individual spools of notaries’ yarn here – enter ‘Heftgarn’ in the search window.
(Answer to a query on jur_Übs group at Yahoo – thanks to Anja.

Two addresses in Munich were also given: Kaut Bullinger and Weiß & Cie.

However, I think the colour cannot be binding. Another suggestion was to save money and use the thread sold for binding Rinderrouladen (beef olives). I see some housewives save money on Rouladen thread by using crochet yarn, but there’s a limit to how far you can go. There’s also a silk thread used in Britain, but it’s more expensive.