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#79572 09/04/02 01:59 AM
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I agree with Wordwind. Just because something is NOT applicable, doesn't automatically mean that it IS applicable. It could be neutral. As wofa said, in the middle. This is getting away from the double negative, but the principle is the same: if I say I am not coming to England next month, it doesn't automatically follow that I AM coming some other time. There are other possibilities, just as there are with the not inapplicable idea. It is not inapplicable that I plan on coming to England next month; but it isn't necessarily applicable that I do plan on it, either.


#79573 09/04/02 02:41 AM
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In the legal case precision is everything. Just ask Sparteye. Someone's life can hang on a distiction we poor mortals consider semantic nit-picking. ~ faldage

"The legal theories are not inapplicable in the broadest sense of the word to fast food." ~ a law school professor

If precision can be the determinate of life or death by the law, thank God that this law school professor is tucked away in law school and not practicing at the bench.

The professor's sentence has no hidden arcane legal reason for being vague and poorly constructed, the professor sentence is just that- vague and poorly constructed.

Follow the semantics...
"The legal theories...(theories, for goodness sake)
are not inapplicable...(academia hedgehoging)
in the broadest sense of the word...(this is bullshit)
to fast food...(very good professor, we all know what constitutes "fast foods".)

Today the lawyers around us, i.e. the government, have a empire built on words rather than justice, it's a bit of a shame that the self-professed "lovers of words", i.e. us, give deference to these jerks.


#79574 09/04/02 09:30 AM
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Interesting point, milum.

So much power--so many jokes. If you can't beat 'em, laugh at 'em.

Now what exactly is a good lawyer? Depends upon how you define is. Will we ever forget that particularly oddly split hair?

Bench regards,
WordWobbling


#79575 09/04/02 09:35 AM
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it's a bit of a shame that the self-professed "lovers of words", i.e. us, give deference to these jerks.

That's your problem, milum. You're a closet prescriptivist. Y'all's problem is you got no respect for the language. It's fine as long as it does what you want it to, but you can't take it on its own terms.


#79576 09/04/02 10:07 AM
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Living with a language is like living with a husband or wife. For years your relationship will trot along quite predictably with just the right (and understandable) amount of variation, then out of nowhere, BAM! it up and slaps you in the face and pisses off with the rap artist down the block.

Life (and language) sucks!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#79577 09/04/02 11:35 AM
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Life (and language) sucks!
Tell me about it. Let's go have a drink or two, shall we?


#79578 09/04/02 11:42 AM
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Add in three or four and you can count me in.


#79579 09/04/02 02:18 PM
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Me, too.

language...pisses off with the rap artist down the block

[BOM]
[bom-BOM]
Alpha Delta Eta Kappa
I'm the son of a rapper an' I look pretty dapper
How does that grab ya, babeee?
Beta Epsilon Theta Lambda
'S all Greek to me, don' ya speak to me
Baaa! Yeah!
Gamma Zeta Iota Mu
I stew in the heat of an alphabet zoo
[BOM]
[bom-BOM]

think I'll keep the day-job.



#79580 09/05/02 10:13 AM
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think I'll keep the day-job.

A wise decision, shona, a wise decision ...



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
#79581 09/06/02 01:46 AM
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http://www.uky.edu/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/~scaife/terms?file=1ahrd.html&isindex=Litotes

A great word: litotes. As usual Orwell's advice is well worth considering.


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