3 ms·
"For the lawyer, each word in a formal legal document has (or should have) a purpose: it has been chosen instead of other words, and also instead of no words at
by 11thEarlOfMar 5y ago
"For the lawyer, each word in a formal legal document has (or should have) a purpose: it has been chosen instead of other words, and also instead of no words at all."
I know people who can engage in free-form conversation in this manner. Not to say like a lawyer, but where there are no words missing, no words incorrect, and no words superflous. I've marvelled at that ability and find that style of speaking mesmerizing.
- vcdimension 5y agoThe great physicist Paul Dirac was renowned for his extremely thoughtful manner of speech, and would drive people crazy with long silences before he responded to any question put to him. Here he is in his later years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNBsqmH7xOQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNBsqmH7xOQ
- ggm 5y agoIs this why punctuation in legal text is often said to be so horrible? By repute, legal English ignores most except the period and for obvious reasons the question mark. I believe comma, semicolon and like are deprecated unless their intent is absolutely clear.
- ValentineC 5y agoI wonder if most lawyers' use of doublets and triplets [1] in contracts these day are the equivalent of copying and pasting from someone else's Stack Overflow code. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet