Lost Posting

["Robert E. Allen" <re_allen -at- PNL -dot- GOV>]

On the 16th, I posted "Tenses, Gender and Number."  The following
was forwarded to me over E-mail from someone who subscribes
to the list via E-mail.  I read the list using WinVN 0.83.3, a public
domain Usenet Newsreader.  This followup, posted early on the 20th
(I think) still hasn't shown up on the newsreader.  Any ideas???

And thanks to Doug for his thoughts.  In my brain, I know he's correct, but
<PARANOIA TO ON: LAWYER BIAS TO MAX> it's too bad the lawyers have
hijacked the language and applied their definitions to words so they can
charge us large fees to tell us what the words mean. <PARANOIA TO OFF>

I have a friend who was a lawyer writing municipal bond issues.  She said
that no one really cared what she wrote until there was a default.  Then
every comma became a major legal issue.  So, I suppose it's necessary,
but that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Bob (Oops, I left LAWYER BIAS set to MAX.  Oh well.....)
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Bob was baffled and offended by the following passage
 from vocational regulations:

************************************
"Tenses, Gender, and Number.  As used in this chapter,
 the present tense includes the past and future tenses,
 and the future includes the present; the masculine
 gender includes the feminine, and the feminime includes
 the masculine; and the singular includes the plural, and the
plural includes the singular."

Sounds to me like an admission that someone doesn't know their grammer.
 ************************************

Actually, it's an admission that mistakes can be made in drafting
 a law or regulation.  We discussed this in a business law class
 I took about a year ago.  If no other interpretation is given, there
 are a bunch of rules about how to interpret genders, tenses, etc.
in the law; sometimes these rules lead to unexpected interpretations
 of seemingly ordinary sentences (please don't ask for examples).
 However, a specific statement of intent within the regulation or
 law can override those rules.

In this case, they seem to be throwing the net as widely as possible,
 to ensure that a passage isn't too specific and therefore frustrates
 the intent of the law or regulation.  Think of it as caulking to keep the
 lawyers out.

Doug                            "All business activity is a struggle
 ENGSTROMDD -at- phibred -dot- com           between Greed and Fear.  Incorporation
means that, in this organization, Fear has won."
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