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Thursday, March 3, 2011

Broadcasting idiocy

In the line of duty, it is sometimes incumbent upon me to read letters from opposing counsel in which grandiose posturing is performed and threats are leveled. As a general rule, lawyers are pretty good with words. I can attest to the fact that this lawyer chooses every word with care because I've had it drilled into me that the subtlest of shifts in semantics can completely alter the meaning of what I'm trying to convey. And then there are lawyers like the guy whose words came across my desk recently and gave me the uncontrollable urge to cram a dangling participle down his throat. The letter contained a threat of penalties against my client...I think. The spelling and grammar were so atrocious that I could only guess at what he was trying to say. And when I thought I finally had it figured out, my annoyance was compounded by the fact that I found myself unable to draft a response that was not dripping with sarcasm. I had to assume that since the guy ostensibly made it through law school and passed the bar, he's probably no dummy. However, if you have something to say and you come to the conclusion that it is important enough to commit to writing, don't you think it might be a good idea to dust off those grade school grammar lessons and fire up your spell checker so you can avoid looking like a complete idiot to the person reading your words? And while I'm being a curmudgeon, can we expand that to all forms of written communication, not just legal blustering? Please and thank you.

1 comments:

Lorie S. said...

You are way to smart for me. I think I only knew half the words you used which I probably shouldn't admit. I will apologize in advance for the typos in my blog...sometimes I have to hurry and publish because Andrew wakes up and is crying or something and am too lazy to go back and fix it :) But I shall try to not look like an idiot too often. Love yoU!!