English

Transblawg | 1. November 2004 —This is a pair of scissors. Or is it? Yes, I don’t see why not - it has two parts that are joined (like nutcrackers, bermudas, steps, scales, goggles and so on). I smuggled it out of and into...…

Transblawg | 30. Oktober 2004 —The decision of the Federal Constitutional Court of 14th October 2004, which was widely commented on in the press - it deals with how far German courts are obliged to enforce decisions of the European Court of Human Rights -...…

Transblawg | 20. Oktober 2004 —LAWgical reports that the German Civil Code is being translated into English, to appear online. All 5 books are to be translated into British English by autumn 2005 and appear online as part of the German Federal Ministry of Justice’s...…

Transblawg | 19. Oktober 2004 —The Guardian today had an article suggesting the blasphemy law may be about to be repealed in England. This was based on a remark of David Blunkett’s in 2001, so it didn’t look like news, and when I looked again,...…

Transblawg | 30. September 2004 —Lynne Truss’ publishers have now published Vivian Cook’s ‘Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary or why can’t anybody spell?’ (I pasted that. I can’t be bothered to misspell). Amazon.co.uk already has a five-star review, containing the word ‘recieved’. I wonder if...…

Transblawg | 13. September 2004 —I would comment in Language Log’s comments feature if it had one, but it doesn’t, so here goes: Geoffrey K. Pullum writes: There’s a punctuation rule that American publishers follow rather strictly though British publishers do not: when an expression...…

Transblawg | 11. September 2004 —Further to the last-but-one entry, here is a page on Ulster Scots, with a test, audio clips, poetry and other goodies....…

Transblawg | 11. September 2004 —I found this via the Usenet group sci.lang (which I don’t usually read): Walcome til the Scottish Pairlament wabsite The Scottish Pairlament is here for tae represent aw Scotland’s folk. We want tae mak siccar that as mony folk as...…

Transblawg | 1. September 2004 —To quote the Law in a Box website: The Law in a Box range of CDs is a powerful resource and will be a useful supplement to your studies. Each CD, with the exception of Advocacy, which is a...…

Transblawg | 24. August 2004 —The German Law Archive has two new English versions of family law statutes online: Gesetz zur Geltendmachung von Unterhaltsansprüchen im Verkehr mit Ausländischen Staaten (Auslandsunterhaltsgesetz - AUG) - Foreign Maintenance Act, and the Gesetz über die Vermittlung der Annahme als...…

Transblawg | 20. August 2004 —The program WhiteSmoke will ‘enrich’ your English. The demo on the site shows how you can start with a simple sentence like ‘I admire your work’ and finish with a strangely un-English one like ‘I greatly appreciate your complicated work’....…

Transblawg | 19. August 2004 —patentoftheweek.com reports (via IPKAT) that a patent application has been filed for two new punctuation marks, the question comma and the exclamation comma. It was filed by the suspiciously German-sounding Leonard Storch, Ernst van Hagen and Sigmund Silber. I can’t...…

Transblawg | 16. August 2004 —Kenneth A. Adams, A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting, has been published by the American Bar Association Press. At the book’s site, you can see the table of contents, and there are also articles by the author. The site...…