Forty years or so ago I was told a story by an Oxford linguist: he'd been attached to Monty's army as an intelligence officer, after undergoing training which included hours every day reading captured documents to ensure that he was familiar with German typography and military nuance. One night he was woken by somebody saying "...there's a Hell of a Brocks' benefit going up in the West(?): what's going on?" "I don't know", he replied, "get me a prisoner and I'll find out". A couple of days la...
