f/k/a . . .

f/k/a’s cracked investigator, sleuthEsq (try saying that

three times after a few mimosas), was a little late filing

his first Sunday Brunch Potluck report. Here are the

highlights, in time for dinner:

a day without a mexican

In an attempt to brief Pres. Bush on the planned May 1st

work stoppage and demonstrations by supporters of the

American immigrant community, new White House Press

Secretary Tony Snow is rumored to have played the DVD

version of “a day without a mexican” (2004) for G.W. Also

available in Spanish, as “Un Dia sin Mexicanos,” and directed

by Sergio Arau, the film was broadly panned (with a 30 out of

100 score at metacritic.com). But, the scenario is surely one

that will help enlighten our Decider-in-Chief. As IMBD notes

in describing a day without a mexican:

Tagline: On May 14 there will be no Mexicans in

California.Plot Outline: One day California wakes up and not

a single Latino is left in the state. They have all inex-

plicably dissappeared, chaos, tragedy, and comedy

quickly ensue. (view trailer)

Sure, immigration is a very complex subject (see, e.g. Washinton Post,

“Immigration’s Bottom Line, April 30, 2006; “Hispanic Media Split on

May 1 Boycott,” New America Media, April 24, 2006), and one movie

might not do the topic justice. Nonetheless, the film’s weaknesses

might be just what our White House is looking for:

 

“. . As satire, however, the film is toothless. It doesn’t ask the

important questions of why the situation continues. It’s satisfied

to point out an injustice without going any deeper, satisfied to

remain infotainment, distributing some facts amid the laughs that

may make a few people ponder but won’t necessarily ruffle any

feathers.“Perhaps it is the filmmakers’ intent to make that one bold statement

¦#x2014; “Notice us! Appreciate us!” ¦#x2014; and then move on. There is some-

thing to be said about keeping a politically charged message simple,

but it also feels safe and geared to maximize the box office.”

 

Kevin Crust, L.A. Times, May 14, 2004

 

 

“A Day Without a Mexican plays like a Twilight Zone episode

conceived for Mexican television and padded out to three times

its half-hour storyline. Its narrative conceit will entertain for a

while, but eventually you will long to disappear with the rest

of the Mexicans.”

 

Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle, Sept. 24, 2004

 

 

On a related topic, the ever-practical folk at Not One Damn Dime, sent me (and

thousands of others, of course) an email today declaring their support for tomorrow’s

“Great American Boycott.” With their usual perceptive grasp of economics and

politics they declare:

If the anti-immigrant politicians and hatemongers are right, that ‘immigrants

are a drain on society,’ then during the day on May 1st, the stock market

will surge, and the economy will boom. If not, we prove them wrong once

and for all. We know what will happen!

With their usual fine sense of what is politically doable (and morally correct) they

assert: “We will settle for nothing less than full amnesty and dignity for the millions of

undocumented workers presently in the U.S. ” The f/ka Gang confesses: NODD has

a big mountain to climb, after their first Not One Damn Dime Day silliness — before we

will be able to take them seriously. [see our prior post]

 

 

“HurricaneG”

 

If Washington Post readers had been visiting the RiskProf weblog of Prof.

Martin Grace regularly, they would have been way ahead of the learning

curve this morning, when trying to digest “Insurers Retreat From Coasts:

Katrina Losses May Force More Costs on Taxpayers,” by Spencer S.

Hsu (April 30, 2006).

RiskProf Martin Grace “prof grace”

 

Although the WaPo article — which reports that many insurers

are refusing to write homeowner’s insurance in high-risk areas —

is quite informative, we suggest “More Consumer Disadvocacy”

and RiskProf’s entire Hurricanes page, for those who want to

understand the economics and politics of the insurance game

(and impress their friends at cocktail parties). update (May 2,

2006): RiskProf has added “More on Consumer Disadvocay”

May 1, 2006).

 

The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law

 

 

Evan Schaeffer had high praise this week for a book by (p/i defense)

lawyer Mark Herrmann — The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law

(ABA Press, release fairly imminent 2006). We were intrigued by a

book that promised to be curmudgeonly, witty and informative about

the art and science of practicing law, and which Herrmann claims:

“became an instant cult classic among law students and law

firm associates. It is among ABA Publishing’s fastest-selling

books of all time.” (emphasis added)

You can only imagine, therefore, the let down, when we discovered

on the ABA webpage for CGPL that “This product is not yet available, but

can be pre-ordered.“ Also, the “where to buy” button at Herrman’s law firm,

Jones Day, links only to the ABA page. When queried, Evan suggested,

that there must be other “channels of distribution” and lots of pre-orders.

However, PriceGrabber states that the only source is Amazon.com, and

Amazon.com says “This item has not yet been released,” while noting

a “September 30, 2006″ publication date.

 

Are we being too curmudgeonly to ask how a book that has not yet

reached more than a handful of readers/reviewers could be called “an

instant classic.” Doth pre-orders a classic make? More like “imminent

classic,” don’t you think”? It is a strange bit of puffery — and sounds like

lawyer hyperbole, to me. Of course, that should be a topic covered in some

detail in Herrmann’s book.

afterthought (May 2, 2006): Prof. Yabut left Your Editor a note

last night saying: please check out Meaning #6 in the American

Heritage Dictionary (4th Ed. 2000) for the word “cult.” Okay. Now,

I understand: The Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law is already

an “instant classic” among:

“6. An exclusive group of persons sharing an esoteric,

usually artistic or intellectual interest.

The f/k/a Gang swears that the above blurb is in

no way sour grapes for the fact that Curmudgeon’s Guide has

snuck ahead of this weblog in the Google results for the query

curmudgeon lawyer>.

update (May 2, 2006): Mark Herrmann saw the discussion at Evan’s Illinois

Trial Practice Weblog and this site, and sent Evan an email, which resulted

in the following update by Evan:

An update: I received the following email from Mark Herrmann on 5/2/06–

I saw the exchange on the blogs about the release date of The

Curmudgeon’s Guide to Practicing Law.

I’ve contacted ABA Publishing, and the publisher has now fixed

the website to indicate that the book is in fact available and being

shipped.

The pre-orders alone, however, had been enough to move the book

to the ABA Web Store’s “Best Sellers” list, so, not surprisingly, I

side with you in the bloggers debate.

Almost makes a guy want to come out of retirement and do a little cross-examin-

ation. The numbers intrigue me [e.g., what does it take to get on the ABA

“Best Seller’s List”? How many law students are coming across with the $34.95

to join the Curmudgeon cult?] And the definitions, too. Of course, since we don’t

use emoticons around here, we don’t know whether Mark realizes that — in addition

to giving his book some good publicity, Yabut-style — this blurb is one curmudgeon

pulling another’s leg. Mostly.

Thanks to Language Log’s astute and amiable Mark Liberman for answering

our lamenting query from Friday: Why do so many news broadcasters…

end their show by saying “we’ll see you here tomorrow”? In “Out-of-time, out-of-

body seeing and hearing” (April 30, 2006,) Mark harkens back to the homey-

interactive, un-canned, feeling created on radio by the late Hank Williams, in

his Health & Happiness Shows, Mark notes that Williams ended with:

If the Good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise, we’ll be sure

to hear from you again”. That’s pretty much the radio version of the

inverted meaning in TV closings like “We’ll see you here tomorrow.”

Mark continues: “It’s clear enough, I think, why Hank said “we’ll be sure to hear

from you again” and not “you’ll be sure to hear from us again”. In the first place,

he’s making a promise for himself and his band — it would be strange and even

rude for him to try to commit the listener to tuning in again. He could have promised

that “we’ll be sure to play for you again”, but that would highlight the very thing he

wants to overcome, the one-way, non-interactive nature of the medium. He’s trying

to make listeners feel that he’s right there with them, taking in their requests and

their reactions as if he were playing a live roadhouse gig rather than a canned radio

show.”

 

I’m always fascinated by the way two (giving myself the benefit of the doubt)

mentally competent speakers of the same langague can come away with very

different interpretations of the same words. For example, for me, “we’ll be sure

to hear from you again,” sounds exactly like Hank is rudely trying — in Mark’s

words — “to commit the listener to tuning in again.”

Mark ends with:

  Hank chose an image that emphasized the empathy he wanted to feel,

and if he strayed a bit beyond the strict bounds of logic, surely an

author of “one-breath poetry” can forgive him.

To me, by skewing the meaning of the words, instead of saying something factually

true that invited the listener to come back, Hank — and I’m a fan of his music — is

manipulating the feelings of the listener and making our language a bit less useful

as a tool of communication. Surely, if Hank tried his “But, I’ve been here with you

all night” baloney with a sweetheart, from out of town, she’d call his bluff. And maybe

sing “Your Cheatin’ Heart.”

I really do enjoy the virtual conversations with Prof. Liberman, but I have to make a

dissent from his last clause: “if [Hank] strayed a bit beyond the strict bounds of logic,

surely an author of “one-breath poetry” can forgive him.” Mark needs to read the

page he has pointed to (”is it or ain’t it haiku?”). Haiku is all about saying what your

physical senses are perceiving – what you actually see, hear, taste, touch, smell.

If done right, haiku is not a poetic genre that uses artifices and imagination to achieve

its results.

Speaking of haiku and late-breaking news, the latest edition

of Roadrunner Haiku Journal (Issue VI: 2, May 6, 2006) hit the internet

today. As usual, it has three haiku each from more than a dozen

fine haiku poets, plus a number of other special features. Here are

a pair of poems from our Honored Guest Andrew Riutta

it comes and goes
without a sound
evening mist

not one fossil
among these stones
graveyard parking lot

andrew riutta

here’s a teaser from John Stevenson

city moon

generations

of renters

- and a sample from Tom Clausen

sharp curve-
a weathered cross
nailed to the tree

Why do the good people at True Majority.org (whose goal f/k/a endorses)

need to whitewash the role of Democratic politicians in our Nation’s rush to

war in Iraq?   True Majority has started a campaign to bombard Democratic

Leaders with the demand that they “Not Be Fooled Again“ regarding Iran. They  

should instead stand up against the Bush Administration’s plans and arguments

for bombing Iran over its future nuclear weapons.   Their Petition to Democratic

Leaders (such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) says:

 

“bombfuse” 

Please, use all the influence you’ve got to convince Democrats to

find sufficient backbone to withstand any and all pressure from the

President or anyone else to go to war with Iran.

We wish we would could agree that they were duped and bullied –  that it was 

credulity and cowardice that got Democrats to vote to authorize the Iraq War. 

However, as we opined in ”may I speak frankly about my fellow Democrats?“ 

(Oct. 24, 2004, just prior to Election Day), it was political expediency that made

Democrats vote to invade Iraq (and to remain silent for so long about the “post-

victory” situation in that country).  They believed that going against a popular

President and against public sentiment would cost them votes.  So, they went

with the political tide.

rural interstate –

all the cars

exit together

 

   lee gurga 

        from Fresh Scent

 

 

The good news is that Democratic Leaders will almost surely do as True Majority

asks – ”stand up, pound their podiums and loudly denounce the Bush Administr-

ation’s planning for bombing Iran.”

                                                                                                                

 

The bad news is that they’ll probably do the right thing for the wrong reasons.  They”ll

come out for using diplomacy rather than bombs against Iran because voters are sick

of war and its many costs, and because the President is unpopular and far weaker.  I’d

still prefer good policy and morality for their own sake — political integrity over political

expediency.  Nonetheless, right now, playing politics should help prevent bombing Iran

(with its unimaginably bad unintended consequences).   With politics in a democracy,

you’ve gotta be thankful for good policy, even when the motives are less than pure.

 

  Come on, True Majority: don’t let the Democratic Leadership off the hook.

Don’t make excuses for them, like the parent of some irresponsible adolescent. 

Why not just tell them: “Last time, you knew what was the right thing, but de-

cided to go for votes instead. This time, do the right thing, because it is the right

thing.  The next thing you know, you may start speaking with moral authority

again and end up getting votes despite yourselves.”

“tinyredcheck”  Another quibble with True Majority.  We complain that

the Republican Administration doesn’t ask for the sacrifice

from Americans that is needed to achieve many important

political and social goals.  Why then do you choose as your

website tagline this rousing call to commitment and action?

“Give us two minutes a month.  We’ll give you a better world.”

The world does not need more laptop revolutionaries, who think

two minutes a month gets them off the hook for the actions of 

their politicians and Government.  See our post on “slactivism”

– activism requires action (Jan. 22, 2005)

 

 potluck

Here’s a linguistic and social “tip“ from Steve Breen and “Grand Avenue” —

and it’s lots easier for we members of the unwashed masses to understand than the

typical post at Language Log.

 

more from Language Log: Benjamin Zimmer at Language Log adds an interesting

twist to Spanish National Anthem story.   With a better source than Washington Post’s

David Montgomery, Ben says:

“I don’t know which ‘musicologists’ Montgomery consulted,

but Wikipedians have had better luck finding other foreign-

language versions of the anthem. So far contributors to the

Wikipedia page for “Nuestro Himno” have turned up examples

in German, Yiddish, Samoan, French, and Latin. Not only that,

they discovered a number of other Spanish versions reproduced

on the website of the U.S. State Department. (Will this page be

removed now that President Bush has declared that the anthem

“ought to be sung in English”?)

Ben wrote an additional post today (April 29), discussing at length the infamous

quote that is often attributed to Texas Governor Miriam Amanda “Ma” Ferguson:

                                                                                              

 

“If the King’s English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good

enough for the children of Texas!”

Ben tries very hard to exonerate Ma Ferguson.  We don’t know enough about the

politics or religious philosophy of Gov. Ferguson to guess whether she might just

have meant this little piece of know-nothing bigotry and ignorance.  [We blurbed

about the same quote (or slight variations) in our post get a good translator.  Go

there to see examples of classic Japanese haiku that have received varied treatment

from various transators.]

 

 

  Here’s a story from Schenectady County [NY] that I hope Walter

Olson will cover at Overlawyered.com.   Abraham Pearson was arrested in

2003, and is still facing child pornography charges for incidents that took

place in his home in Niskayuna, a Schenectady suburb.  Pearson is charged

with “videotaping  and assaulting his children’s baby sitter, then 17, over the

span of seven months on 64 separate occasions,” taping each encounter.

In June, 2003, he allegedly also attacked a 15-year-old girl, who disclosed

the abuse to her mother, leading to a swift investigation and arrest. (Schen-

ectady Daily Gazette, “Papers allege porn record,” April 29, 2006, at B1,

access by $ubscription). 

 

That’s just background.  We learn in today’s Gazette article that the family

of the then-15-year-old victim filed suit on Monday (April 24), in New York

State Supreme for Schenectady County, against Pearson’s wife, Elyse Pearson,

seeking unspecified damages.  The lawsuit was filed by attorney Kevin P. Hickey 

(admitted to the bar in 1999) of the Albany law firm of O’Connell and Aronowitz. 

According to the victim’s mother, the abuse took an emotional and financial toll

on the family.  The Gazette states that Plaintiffs had already filed suit against

Abraham Pearson back in 2004.  The newspaper reports her claims (at B3):

  “The girl, the younger of the two victims, needed programs to

work through the trauma, and her parents feared she might commit

suicide.

 

   “The financial impact came as they fought insurance companies

after being told benefits for counseling had run out.  Meanwhile, the

girl sill needed the programs, her family said.”

The Gazette “explains” the plaintiffs’ theory of liability:

   “[Hickey] said Pearson’s wife knew or should have known

what her husband was doing and could have prevented it.”

Elyse Pearson’s attorney, Lawrence Gordon of the Glenville, New York firm

Gordon Tepper & Decoursey, per the Gazette, “confirmed that divorce proceed-

ings are ongoing,” in a suit filed by Mrs. Pearson.  He declined to comment on

the suit.”   After a three-year federal investigation, no charges have been filed

against Elyse Pearson and, the Gazette reports that “the federal prosecutor said

this week there is no evidence she was involved.”

 

“slicingthepie”

 

We do not for a moment want to minimalize the emotional trauma suffered by the

young victim of sexual abuse.  However, unless it can be shown that Elyse Pearson

knew what her husband was doing with those girls, it is difficult to agree that she

should be held civilly liable for not preventing his crimes.  (And, the cost of disputing

health insurance coverage limitations seems a bit far afield, when looking at proper

damages in the suit.)   Nonetheless, the Pearsons had a nice home in an upscale

suburb, so — Walter Olson might say — it would be very unAmerican to let Elyse

Pearson get away with part of the marital pie.

 

As dentist-haijin Lee Gurga surely knows: sometimes,

to heal, you need to take some bitter medicine, or

undergo a bit of pain.

 

silent prayer —

the quiet humming

of the ceiling fan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

his side of it

her side of it

winter silence

 

 

 

 

my dream

awakens me . . .

I wake you

 

 

two little boys

paddling like mad —

the beached canoe

 

 

 

 

 

pine shade

the wooden bench

worn smooth

 

 

rows of corn

   stretch to the horizon —

      sun on the thunderhead

 

 

lee gurga 

from Fresh Scent (Brooks Books,1998) and/or The Haiku Anthology

(3rd. Ed, edited by Cor van den Heuvel)

 

                                                                                                                                                   “bombfuseN”

 

Why do the good people at True Majority.org (whose goal f/k/a endorses)

need to whitewash the role of Democratic politicians in our Nation’s rush to

war in Iraq?   True Majority has started a campaign to bombard Democratic

Leaders with the demand that they “Not Be Fooled Again“ regarding Iran. They  

should instead stand up against the Bush Administration’s plans and arguments

for bombing Iran over its future nuclear weapons.   Their Petition to Democratic

Leaders (such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid) says:

 

“bombfuse” 

Please, use all the influence you’ve got to convince Democrats to

find sufficient backbone to withstand any and all pressure from the

President or anyone else to go to war with Iran.

We wish we would could agree that they were duped and bullied –  that it was 

credulity and cowardice that got Democrats to vote to authorize the Iraq War. 

However, as we opined in ”may I speak frankly about my fellow Democrats?“ 

(Oct. 24, 2004, just prior to Election Day), it was political expediency that made

Democrats vote to invade Iraq (and to remain silent for so long about the “post-

victory” situation in that country).  They believed that going against a popular

President and against public sentiment would cost them votes.  So, they went

with the political tide.

rural interstate –

all the cars

exit together

 

   lee gurga 

        from Fresh Scent

 

 

The good news is that Democratic Leaders will almost surely do as True Majority

asks – ”stand up, pound their podiums and loudly denounce the Bush Administr-

ation’s planning for bombing Iran.”

                                                                                                                

 

The bad news is that they’ll probably do the right thing for the wrong reasons.  They”ll

come out for using diplomacy rather than bombs against Iran because voters are sick

of war and its many costs, and because the President is unpopular and far weaker.  I’d

still prefer good policy and morality for their own sake — political integrity over political

expediency.  Nonetheless, right now, playing politics should help prevent bombing Iran

(with its unimaginably bad unintended consequences).   With politics in a democracy,

you’ve gotta be thankful for good policy, even when the motives are less than pure.

 

  Come on, True Majority: don’t let the Democratic Leadership off the hook.

Don’t make excuses for them, like the parent of some irresponsible adolescent. 

Why not just tell them: “Last time, you knew what was the right thing, but de-

cided to go for votes instead. This time, do the right thing, because it is the right

thing.  The next thing you know, you may start speaking with moral authority

again and end up getting votes despite yourselves.”

“tinyredcheck”  Another quibble with True Majority.  We complain that

the Republican Administration doesn’t ask for the sacrifice

from Americans that is needed to achieve many important

political and social goals.  Why then do you choose as your

website tagline this rousing call to commitment and action?

“Give us two minutes a month.  We’ll give you a better world.”

The world does not need more laptop revolutionaries, who think

two minutes a month gets them off the hook for the actions of 

their politicians and Government.  See our post on “slactivism”

– activism requires action (Jan. 22, 2005)

 

 potluck

Here’s a linguistic and social “tip“ from Steve Breen and “Grand Avenue” —

and it’s lots easier for we members of the unwashed masses to understand than the

typical post at Language Log.

 

more from Language Log: Benjamin Zimmer at Language Log adds an interesting

twist to Spanish National Anthem story.   With a better source than Washington Post’s

David Montgomery, Ben says:

“I don’t know which ‘musicologists’ Montgomery consulted,

but Wikipedians have had better luck finding other foreign-

language versions of the anthem. So far contributors to the

Wikipedia page for “Nuestro Himno” have turned up examples

in German, Yiddish, Samoan, French, and Latin. Not only that,

they discovered a number of other Spanish versions reproduced

on the website of the U.S. State Department. (Will this page be

removed now that President Bush has declared that the anthem

“ought to be sung in English”?)

Ben wrote an additional post today (April 29), discussing at length the infamous

quote that is often attributed to Texas Governor Miriam Amanda “Ma” Ferguson:

                                                                                              

 

“If the King’s English was good enough for Jesus Christ, it’s good

enough for the children of Texas!”

Ben tries very hard to exonerate Ma Ferguson.  We don’t know enough about the

politics or religious philosophy of Gov. Ferguson to guess whether she might just

have meant this little piece of know-nothing bigotry and ignorance.  [We blurbed

about the same quote (or slight variations) in our post get a good translator.  Go

there to see examples of classic Japanese haiku that have received varied treatment

from various transators.]

 

 

  Here’s a story from Schenectady County [NY] that I hope Walter

Olson will cover at Overlawyered.com.   Abraham Pearson was arrested in

2003, and is still facing child pornography charges for incidents that took

place in his home in Niskayuna, a Schenectady suburb.  Pearson is charged

with “videotaping  and assaulting his children’s baby sitter, then 17, over the

span of seven months on 64 separate occasions,” taping each encounter.

In June, 2003, he allegedly also attacked a 15-year-old girl, who disclosed

the abuse to her mother, leading to a swift investigation and arrest. (Schen-

ectady Daily Gazette, “Papers allege porn record,” April 29, 2006, at B1,

access by $ubscription). 

 

That’s just background.  We learn in today’s Gazette article that the family

of the then-15-year-old victim filed suit on Monday (April 24), in New York

State Supreme for Schenectady County, against Pearson’s wife, Elyse Pearson,

seeking unspecified damages.  The lawsuit was filed by attorney Kevin P. Hickey 

(admitted to the bar in 1999) of the Albany law firm of O’Connell and Aronowitz. 

According to the victim’s mother, the abuse took an emotional and financial toll

on the family.  The Gazette states that Plaintiffs had already filed suit against

Abraham Pearson back in 2004.  The newspaper reports her claims (at B3):

  “The girl, the younger of the two victims, needed programs to

work through the trauma, and her parents feared she might commit

suicide.

 

   “The financial impact came as they fought insurance companies

after being told benefits for counseling had run out.  Meanwhile, the

girl sill needed the programs, her family said.”

The Gazette “explains” the plaintiffs’ theory of liability:

   “[Hickey] said Pearson’s wife knew or should have known

what her husband was doing and could have prevented it.”

Elyse Pearson’s attorney, Lawrence Gordon of the Glenville, New York firm

Gordon Tepper & Decoursey, per the Gazette, “confirmed that divorce proceed-

ings are ongoing,” in a suit filed by Mrs. Pearson.  He declined to comment on

the suit.”   After a three-year federal investigation, no charges have been filed

against Elyse Pearson and, the Gazette reports that “the federal prosecutor said

this week there is no evidence she was involved.”

 

“slicingthepie”

 

We do not for a moment want to minimalize the emotional trauma suffered by the

young victim of sexual abuse.  However, unless it can be shown that Elyse Pearson

knew what her husband was doing with those girls, it is difficult to agree that she

should be held civilly liable for not preventing his crimes.  (And, the cost of disputing

health insurance coverage limitations seems a bit far afield, when looking at proper

damages in the suit.)   Nonetheless, the Pearsons had a nice home in an upscale

suburb, so — Walter Olson might say — it would be very unAmerican to let Elyse

Pearson get away with part of the marital pie.

 

As dentist-haijin Lee Gurga surely knows: sometimes,

to heal, you need to take some bitter medicine, or

undergo a bit of pain.

 

silent prayer —

the quiet humming

of the ceiling fan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

his side of it

her side of it

winter silence

 

 

 

 

my dream

awakens me . . .

I wake you

 

 

two little boys

paddling like mad —

the beached canoe

 

 

 

 

 

pine shade

the wooden bench

worn smooth

 

 

rows of corn

   stretch to the horizon —

      sun on the thunderhead

 

 

lee gurga 

from Fresh Scent (Brooks Books,1998) and/or The Haiku Anthology

(3rd. Ed, edited by Cor van den Heuvel)

 

                                                                                                                                                   “bombfuseN”

 

 In a couple months, millions of Americans will ask the question:

“When is the 4th of July?“. The week, in Mexico and across the

United States, I wonder who’s asking “When is Cinco de Mayo?‘

 

[Last year, f/k/a celebrated on May fourth.]

Why do so many news broadcasters — from PBS’s Jim Lehrer

to ABC’s Elizabeth Vargas — end their show by saying “we’ll see

you here tomorrow”? Yes, the transitive verb “see” does have many

meanings, but not one of them is “be watched by you.” Giving

the broadcasters the benefit of the doubt, I suppose they might

mean “we’ll perceive or visualize you being in our audience.” But,

that’s stretching it.

 

- Prof. Yabut Language Rule of Thumb: If you are in the

business of communicating with words, try really hard

not to take a common word and use it in a way that is

the exact opposite of its most common meaning.

 

- The f/k/a Gang swears never to use the phrase “we’ll

see you here tomorrow.” We might say: “Come back

and let our StatCounter perceive your presence.”

 

- Maybe Mark Liberman at Language Log can explain (or,

more likely, explain away) this language problem for us.

 

updates (May 1, 2006): Scroll down to the little microphone at our

sunday buffet post (April 30, 2006) for our response to Prof. Mark

Liberman’s heroic attempt at Language Log to answer our plaintive

question about “see you here tomorrow.”

 

And, see Mark Kay’s supplemental post at Language Log (May 1, 2006),

which focuses on the “here” rather than the “now.” and explains that the

broadcasters are trying to maintain “the pretense of a face-to-face encounter.“

Prof. Kay (who is an expert in the fascinating field of color naming) concludes:

“It seems like a pretty harmless fiction: “I’m right there in your living

room, so I’m entitled to refer to your living room as ‘here’.”

Your Humble Editor must be overplaying the humilty pretense around here.

I sure hope that readers, including the Language Log professors, didn’t

come away from my original question above thinking that I wasn’t aware of

the pretense and manipulation that were the purpose behind the “harmless

fiction” of saying “see you here tomorrow.” My concern is with the resultant

deterioration in what I believe should be the primary purpose of non-fictional

and non-literary language: the accurate representation of reality. (Perhaps,

my legal and consumer-advocacy background makes me particularly sensitive

to manipulation of words aimed at the public. Haiku’s dedication to what is

actually being perceived by our senses surely increases that sensitivity.) Enter-

tainers, such as Mark’s example of Hank Williams, are expected to use pretense

in creating their product and enticing return customers. Are journalists?

 

  Why would we want to make excuses for people who pride themselves on being

real journalists and presenting facts, when they are twisting the customary meaning

of words, merely to get the viewer to have warm fuzzies and return the next night?

It is not as if there are no easy, accurate alternative phrases that would also create

a feeling of intimacy or immediacy. Even if there weren’t, this member of the news-

broadcast audience just wants the facts — and wants words (especially those that

are used frequently) to have reliable meanings. As we stated at the top of this blurb:

None of the dictionary meanings of the phrase “see you” is “to be seen by you.” At

least, not yet.

 

After all our preaching, why oh why, would anyone name

their weblog The Blogs Blog, and compound the error with the tagline -

“Blogging the Blogs of the web” ? Talk about needing to go hug a toilet

bowl.

Despite that quibble, we want to thank the editor at TheBB

for pointing to this humble weblog yesterday. However, and

despite not wanting to look a gift link in the mouth, it was

sort of strange for this weblogiverse old-timer to read this

post:

Ethics Blog Surfaces

ethicalESQ is a new blog by David Giacalone,

who promises a blog with practical treatment of

ethics issues.

We’ve had so many birthdays by weblog standards, that

the Gang plans to let our 3rd pass by unmentioned in about

four weeks.

 

Are the participants in today Bloggership Conference (via TaxProf)

at Harvard Law School following the ABA’s very useful guidelines for

Participating in a Dialogue? [Aside: 3L Epiphany has an interesting

interview with Judge Richard G. Kopf (U.S. District Judge, Nebraska) on

legal weblogs as secondary sources of legal authority. via Inside Opinion)

 

 

 

Why did someone Google Elle Woods and cinematic role of women

lawyers>? And, was the first result — our post discussing the article

“Court TV’s 15 Most Memorable Movie Lawyers” (Hollywood Heat, by

Daniel Green, May 12, 2005), at all helpful?

When will we get a movie with a female law professor

protagonist? How about a female law professor-weblogger?

 

“questionDudeS” How much clout does Blawg Review have in the world of legal

weblogs? So many people link to each new edition of Blawg Review, that it

appears The Blawg Republic had to reverse its policy of ignoring f/k/a links,

as of the day we hosted Blawg Review #52. Here are the facts:

As explained on May, 24, 2005, in “free speech in the Blawg Republic,”
BR had stopped listing new f/k/a posts on Feb. 11, 2005, the day after
I left a Comment at Bob Ambrogi’s website questioning the usefulness
of