A friend of mine, a PR consultant who just returned from a visit to the UK, sent along the following with the comment, "The British Press is a real hoot, as witness the following from the January 21, 2007 issue of The London Daily Independent:"

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It is with mixed feelings that we report the death, at 63, of retired construction foreman Uwe Werner.

Mr. Werner, a no-doubt worthy human being in many ways, did, however, have a thing about moles, and was determined to do something to stop the damage they did to the garden at his weekend home north of Berlin.

So, last week, he rigged up a cable with metal spikes attached to it and inserted this in his lawn. Then he sent 380 volts down it, enough power to run a cement mixer -- and, as it happened, enough power to also instantly kill a former construction worker.

Mr. Werner will be buried next week; the moles were unharmed.

Somehow this story did not make the American papers, so I thought I'd pass it along as a reminder to everyone not to try this at home!

Wordmatic

I wonder where he got that power from. The mains voltage in Germany is a modest 230 volts.

This sounds suspicious. Unless he was holding onto the wires I can't imagine how he would be killed by 380 volts travelling through the ground.

Is there actually any such newspaper as "The London Daily Independent"?

I found the story on Reuters. The Uwe Werner mentioned is a police spokesman. Googling on Zingst and Maulwurf (German for mole) yields this story.

quote:

Berliner bei Maulwurfjagd ums Leben gekommen

Zingst (dpa) - Bei der Jagd nach Maulwürfen ist ein 63-jähriger Berliner in Zingst in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern ums Leben gekommen. Der Mann hatte im Garten seines Ferienhauses Metallstäbe in den Boden gesteckt und diese unter Starkstrom gesetzt, teilte die Polizei mit. Er hatte vermutlich vergessen, dass er den Strom schon eingeschaltet hatte, als er einen Metallstab berührte …

11.01.2007, 13:38 Uhr

Berlin Resident Loses Life in Mole Hunt

Zingst (dpa) - A 63-year old Berlin resident has lost his life hunting moles in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The man had stuck metal bars into the soil in the garden of his vacation house and connected them to heavy current, the police said. He probably forgot that he'd switched on the current already as he touched the metal bar.

11 January 2007, 1:38 PM

No mention of how much current, cement mixers, or soil conducting electricity. It has the whiff of an urban legend, but the DPA (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, German Press Agency) story sounds more plausable.

This story does mention 380 volts.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd,

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He probably forgot that he'd switched on the current already as he touched the metal bar.

That'll do it.

Aha...you skeptics have been answered! BTW, I do find the "London Daily Independent" cited on Google.

Wordmatic, that report was hilarious!

I found the London Daily Independent on Google too, but I did not find that story in its online archives. I imagine my friend had a copy of the story in his hands.

I did also wonder if it were an urban legend. But searching "moles and electrocute" on Snopes yielded nothing, as did searching the name of the police spokesman.

Does this mean that my friend is wrong--that the British Press is not a hoot?

WM

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But searching "moles and electrocute" on Snopes yielded nothing

Wait a few weeks.

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Is there actually any such newspaper as "The London Daily Independent"?

Not so far as I know - but then there's no such paper as "The London Times" either. The word London appears in neither title, although I suspect it is commonly added in the USA in order to distinguish the titles from similar US publications (such as the New York published Times).

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Aha...you skeptics have been answered! BTW, I do find the "London Daily Independent" cited on Google.

As can be seen here, http://www.independent.co.uk/c/?ec=404 that is not the name of the paper. A clue as to why it might have been thus mis-named is in one of the Google references which said, "London daily, Independent". It is a daily and it is called "The Independent".

For those who don't know the British press, I can say that "The Independent", along with The Times and "The Telegraph" are the three main "serious" papers published in England. There are many others covering more or less specialist areas (such as The Financial Times) but most people who want a reasonably serious and informed view will take one of the three I cite.

The most popular newspaper in England is "The Sun" (part of the same group as The Times) but very different. Its journalism is definitely aimed at the low-brow and popular end of the market and the expression "Page Three Girl" (meaning a model of minor importance) comes from the Sun's policy of putting a picture of a semi-naked girl on page three of every edition, and a Page Three Girl would be one whose modelling career had, at least, progressed as far as appearing in The Sun.

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Originally posted by zmježd:
The Uwe Werner mentioned is a police spokesman.

I am sure you are right and he was not, poor soul either a spook-man or a spoof-man . But I was not the only one to wonder.

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Originally posted by Richard English:
most people who want a reasonably serious and informed view will take one of the three I cite.

You don't rate the Guardian at all then?

But I was not the only one to wonder.

Sorry for the minsunderstanding. The 63-year old retiree was named Dietmar S. The police spokesman, who gave the dpa information on the electrocution was Uwe Werner. If you're reading this, you are here, now.

Guardian

The Financial Times is one of the few serious UK newspapers which I read on occasion. i could be mistaken, and as an American I probably am in some eyes, but I believe they are based in London, too.

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You don't rate the Guardian at all then?

I don't care for the Graunaid. Although its spelling is better than it used to be, I never trusted a paper with so many mistakes.

And yes, Zm, the FT (The Pink 'un) is a London paper but, as its name implies, it does concentrate on financial matters.

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Originally posted by Richard English:
I wonder where he got that power from. The mains voltage in Germany is a modest 230 volts.

Apparently, that was 3-phase voltage.

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Continental Europe formerly operated at 380V phase to phase, 220 V phase to neutral but all of Europe including the UK is now harmonising around a common voltage specification of 400 V phase to phase, 230 V phase to neutral.

Tinman

WM, my comment about the "skeptics being answered" was based on z's excellent research finding the story and how the guy died. Obviously your friend's was story at least was correct; to me, that was the most important part to verify.

Remember, not all articles are recorded on the Internet. I will do some more searching to see what I can find out about that particular newspaper. London is a big city, and it's probably just that these Englishmen haven't heard of it. We have a lot of little regional papers in Chicago, and that's probably similar in London.

I suspect that Richard is right and that the newspaper in question is The Independent with the "London" and "Daily" being inadvertently addedwhen quoting it in the US.

You're probably right, though there were many Ghits for "The London Daily Independent" so others have confused the name, too.

I did find this UK article on it, and it was nearly as humorous as Wordmatic's. "A retired German construction foreman who tried to electrocute moles in the garden of his weekend house ended up frying himself, Reuters reports." and "We reckon that since the voltage noted is 380V, the mole-buster must have been using a three-phase set-up - an audacious but evidently rather silly idea." Not a lot of respect for the dead. BTW, we don't use "bootnote." I assume that's the same as "footnote?"

The Register seems to be an IT news site judging by its strapline "Biting the hand that feeds IT".

We don't use "bootnote" either; I guess that it's their coining, probably relating to a computer "booting".

I've never heard bootnote, either, and I couldn't find it on either Onelook or The OED Online, but I did find it here, where it says it's British slang for footnote.

I ran across Bootnecks," another word I couldn't find on Onelook or The OED Online. I found two references to it in Royal Navy Diction & Slang

quote:

MARINE
ROYAL MARINES
Since 1746 the Marines have the privilege of marching through the City of London with drums beating, Colours flying, and bayonets fixed; this privilege, shared with certain regiments, stems from the formation of the first Maritime Regiments in 1664 from the Trained Bands of the City of London (from whom the Marines derive the nickname of Jollies). Among various general nicknames for the Royal Marines may be cited Turkeys (becuase of the scarlet coats), Bullocks (from the Magnificent physique of the Marine Artillery), Bootnecks and Leathernecks (from the piece of leather sewn in the neck of
their full dress tunics), Jerines, Flatfoots, Jollies, Joeys and Bashi-Bazouks, Acquatic Hussar, Water Buffalo.


TURKEY
One of the many traditional nicknames for a Marine. Other traditional nicknames for royal Marines are "Bashi-Basouks", "Leathernecks", "Bootnecks", "Royals", "Joeys", "Bullocks", "Cheeks",
"Jerines", "Flatfoots", "Jollies".

Tinman

This message has been edited. Last edited by: tinman,

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I've never heard bootnote, either, and I couldn't find it on either Onelook or The OED Online, but I did find it here, where it says it's British slang for footnote.

I have never heard of it.

In the U.S. we say trunknote.

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but I did find it here

Where's here?

As I said, I've never heard it.

It is a supposed UK/US English dictionary. http://www.translatebritish.com/dictionary.php#b A quick glance at it (and especially at some of the words for genitalia) proves to my satisfaction that it was written with the aid of a UK-English speaker who was having a bit of a laugh at the expense of the US authors. Some clean examples (UK first):

carivan - Car

carriageway - highway

cellotape - scotch tape

chebs - boobs

clumpy dumplet - short person

You're right; I forgot to post a link. I've edited my post to correct that. Looking further into the site makes me dubious about it's accuracy.

Tinman

Yes, it looks like some of the contributors have been having a little fun at the expense of the site's author. Most of the suggestions are pretty well OK, but there are a few peculiar ones scattered around as well. Definitely not a reliable source.

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In the U.S. we say trunknote.