Dear Bingley: here is what Wordsmith posted quite a while ago:
Date: Tue Mar 20 00:02:10 EST 2001
Subject: A.Word.A.Day--obiter dictum
X-Bonus: I'm proud to pay taxes in the United States; the only thing is, I could be just as proud for half the money. -Arthur Godfrey, radio and television entertainer (1903-1983)
obiter dictum (OB-i-tuhr DIK-tuhm) noun, plural obiter dicta
1. A passing comment.
2. An observation or opinion by a judge that is incidental to the case in
question, and not binding as precedent.
[From Latin, literally, saying by the way.]
"`Abstract Expressionism was being deployed as a cold war weapon,' (Frances
Stonor) Saunders jauntily asserts. ... Obiter dicta like Saunders's
pronouncement above highlight her irreducible problem."
Josef Joffe, America's secret weapon, New York Times Book Review, Apr 23,
2000.
