Why is making fun of someone known as “joshing”?
Josh in this sense is a 19th-century word, derived from North America, meaning “good-natured banter”. In 1861 Samuel Clemens signed his contributions to the Territorial Enterprise, in which he delighted in perpetuating journalistic hoaxes, as Josh. These were such preposterous tales that other newpapers printed them as true. Two years later, Clemens amended his pseudonym to Mark Twain.
Martin Hasseck,
London NW4
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Who gets the royalties from any sales of Mein Kampf?
Your correpondent Mr Wragg of Edinburgh (Q&A, August 26) is incorrect. Copyright in EU countries now lasts for 70 years from the death of the author; Adolf Hitler’s copyright is therefore extant. Ironically, the change from 50 to 70 years was first introduced by Germany to ensure that their authors did not lose royalties as a result of the war. Later a directive required the other EU countries to amend their own laws to ensure uniformity.
Guy Selby-Lowndes,
Billingshurst, West Sussex
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Further to your previous answers, the Allied Control Commission handed over the German copyright of Mein Kampf, along with the rest of Hitler’s estate, to the state of Bavaria in 1946. Bavaria has earned nothing from this, however, as distribution of the book is illegal in Germany and only those with a proven academic requirement can secure a copy. Hitler’s only heir, Peter Raubal, was advised that, were he to sue the state of Bavaria for royalties, he would probably win.
An American publisher, Houghton-Mifflin, still holds the US copyright and republished in 1971. The Swedish supreme court recently found that republication of Mein Kampf would infringe upon Hitler’s copyright, even though there was no named claimant to that copyright — least of all Peter Raubal, who wants nothing to do with the rotten book.
Ewan McLoughlin,
Inverness
A quick look on Amazon.co.uk shows that Hitler’s tome is easily available, published by the company Liberty Bell. It seems clear that profit is still being drawn from Mein Kampf, and for no acceptable purpose. This puts forward another question: why is this allowed to happen?
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Peter Dieter-Köln,
Odense, Denmark
Why do the English so love the Scots when the Scots so hate the English? Are there any other national neighbours showing this anomaly?
You only have to visit Scotland once to realise why the Scots pretend to hate the English so much; it is merely a cunning ploy to stop us going there in large numbers and despoiling their extraordinarily beautiful country. Now that I have revealed this secret, I beg you not to tell your friends. They will only want to go there and spoil my holiday among some of the friendliest people on the planet.
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Lawrence Frewin,
Totnes, Devon