Dear Elizabeth ~
1. Bless you. There are far too few prescriptivists represented on this board, we are a sorely denigrated and ridiculed minority -- probably entitled to some sort of federal protection -- and another person ready to stand up for the decent and proper use of the language is always welcome.
2. I find "pled" and "pleaded" used interchangeably in the briefing which comes before me, as well as in the published appellate reports which I read.
3. When a lawyer says "I would like to make a motion," I often interrupt to ask "What's holding you back?" The poor things then look so confused.
4. Parliamentary procedure is no longer taught in the same way that Latin is no longer taught. Both -- which tend toward precision of thought and utterance -- are despised because slop -- sloppy thinking and sloppy expression -- is the order of the day.
5. I will be teaching a class this Saturday for newly-elected delegates to the diocesan convention of the Episcopal Church. In it, I will attempt to explain the rudiments of the parliamentary procedure which we use. Some of the class will become angry at some point in the session, as they realize that the rules of decision constrain them, when they want to be free, free, free.
6. Please never leave the board. It already gets kinda lonely here, from time to time.
Father Steve
