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#144853 07/08/05 03:45 AM
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I need further translation from the Latin. In the second example, the charges were dismissed in Baltimore city and
stetted in Howard County. Does this mean that Howard County
rubber-stamped the Baltimore court's decision, or that they
retained the charges on their case list?


#144854 07/08/05 09:25 AM
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Judging from the proofreaders' usage I'd say that Howard County put the charges back on.




#144855 07/08/05 01:19 PM
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That would be my guess as well. I do have another question, relating to: Ultimately
from Indo-European root sta- (to stand) that is also the source of stay, stage, stable, instant, establish, static, and system.]

On TV hospital shows, they say the word 'stat', and from context it means 'as fast as possible--immediately if not sooner'. So is this also from "sta-"?


#144856 07/08/05 08:37 PM
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Lawyers and judges, being wordsmiths, use "stet" in the same way that normal rational human beings use it: as an imperative verb directing a typist or printsetter to "leave it stand" or "do not delete" or "do not make the correction first marked and then crossed out in this text."

In some jurisdictions, an order directing that things be left as they are is called a "stet" or sometimes a "stet order" in obvious reference to the proofreader's/editor's mark.

In some jurisdictions, a special docket or calendar is maintained by the clerk's office onto which cases are placed to continue them without trial. This sometimes happens in criminal cases where the defendant agrees to do this and not to do that for a period of time, while the case remains unprosecuted on the stet docket, in contemplation of a dismissal or reduction of the charges at the end of the agreed period of time.

When Peter Geier writes, in The Daily Record that "The charges later were dismissed in Baltimore City and stetted in Howard County," the reader must guess at his meaning. A good hunch would be that the charges were "put on hold" pending the execution of some private agreement between the parties, in contemplation of their ultimate dismissal.

The use of the inflected form of stet is generally not a good thing. It tells one almost nothing about what the court in Howard County did but tells you that the newswriter is a barbarian, wears the same pair of underpants for more than one day, slurps soup, and routinely forgets his mother's birthday.


#144857 07/08/05 08:43 PM
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good day in court, Father?



formerly known as etaoin...
#144858 07/08/05 08:57 PM
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etaoin asks: good day in court, Father?

And the humble vicar answers: Last day in court for a while. Sunday I make my annual trek into the mountains to the Episcopal church camp for Western Washington, there to serve as chaplain to 125 running screaming pre-adolescents for the next week. Prey for me. Come to think of it, pray for them.



#144859 07/08/05 09:02 PM
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as a middle school teacher, I know of what you speak. enjoy!



formerly known as etaoin...
#144860 07/08/05 09:16 PM
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> Prey for me. Come to think of it, pray for them.

lol! I shall think them lucky to be prey to your fertile imagination, knowing you'll provide all the prayer they may lack the wisdom to ask for. Meanwhile I trust your charges will illuminate the mansions of your venerable house and shine new light on mature judgment. :)

Survive, and tell us more!


#144861 07/09/05 12:52 AM
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Jackie, call Dr. Wordsmith STAT.
I always thought it was an acronym (most things in hospitals are. We can have whole conversations using only initials and numbers.) but it may be related to the Latin statim for immediate. (I asked Jeeves)


#144862 07/09/05 02:57 AM
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Jackie, call Dr. Wordsmith STAT.
Yikes--it hadn't occurred to me that it might be an acronym.

Father Steve and eta--my late-teens son is working at a childrens' camp this summer. After the first week, he volunteered that he "wants to go back and find every one of his middle school teachers...and apologize".


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