The Simplified blog

Hi all

In Simplified news today, a major radio station in Johannesburg used legalese in its 6pm news broadcast.

When reporting on a failed court case, the news reader said something like 'the court judgement was that the accusation was null AND void AND of NO further force OR effect'.

Journalists usually use the fewest words possible, but this one seemed to choose the long-winded legalese to get across a sense of contempt for the accusation. She practically drawled the AND and the OR - as if to say, 'not only was it null, but also void, and there's more! It was of no further force, and if that's not enough, no effect either!'.

Other reasons for non-legal people using legal terms (that they seldom understand so usually use wrongly) are because they want to sound Serious (with a capital S).

Every month I get an emailed statement from my internet service provider which reads 'herewith your statement' in the subject line. We've still a way to go before people are secure enough in their language use to stop using archaic phrases that few understand.

Frances