Undue Annoyance

A lawyer writing a brief to be filed with his state supreme court was upset when his peers told him to omit the use of "niggardly" from his brief.  I agree with the lawyers' colleagues.

Here is where I part with language snobs purists: writing, especially legal writing, is a means to an end. (For the record, Ray Ward taught me this.)  A legal brief has one purpose, and one only - to persuade.  It's not to demonstrate to the court that you are smart, that you can use proper grammar, or that you are a stylist.  It's to persuade.  Granted, a legal stylist will more likely persuade the decision maker.  But, again, style is a means to an end.

Words like "niggardly" are a distraction.  Yes, I know the etymology of the word.  But when I see it, it distracts me.  It sounds like the n-word.  As a legal writer, you do not want to distract the reader. You want him focused on your arguments.

Even if it's irrational for someone to get distracted by "niggardly," your job, as a legal writer, is to keep the reader focused.  Nix it.

Kip writes:

Banishing the n-word from our language is a perfectly understandable and probably wise idea. But there is no reason to idly accept linguistic collateral damage, or to insult people's intelligence or vocabulary skills, merely for the sake of "sensitivity."

No, no, no.  I did not say, "Omit 'niggardly' because it's the touchy-feely thing to do."  Rather, I said:

Words like "niggardly" are a distraction.... It sounds like the n-word.  As a legal writer, you do not want to distract the reader. You want him* focused on your arguments.

But, yes, if being sensitive makes it more likely that the decision maker will take your side, then yes, be sensitive.  I didn't say omitting "niggardly" was good qua good.  I said it was good because it makes it less likely the reader will be distracted from what matters - your arguments.

* "Him" is also a distraction.  I thus tend to use gender-neutral words, and if writing to a female judge, use "her."

Comments

[Loon E. Tick]

Can you be serious? You'd really have the quality of writing be dictated by low-grade morons incapable of looking at a dictionary?

Seems truly Orwellian!

[KipEsquire]

What about the rule that one always writes for one's target audience? Briefs are read by judges -- judges who happen to hold the client's well-being in their hands. I would think that: (a) they know the meaning of "niggardly" and (b) they would be pleased to know that I know that they know its true meaning.

[Mike]

"Niggardly" like so many other words, can be a distraction. It might not distract some judges; but it might others. Why let a word distract a judge from what really matters - your arguments.

"Queer" is another word that comes to mind. "Queer" is a fun word with a meaning divorced from one's sexual orientation. But why use it if it might distract (indeed, offend) the reader?

There are a million words in the English language. Thus, I avoid queer words like niggardly.

[Mike]

"You'd really have the quality of writing be dictated by low-grade morons incapable of looking at a dictionary?"

If the "low-grade morons" were the decision makers, you betcha. Some situations call for one to take a stand (even if it means risking one's life) - to have what I call a "Thomas More moment." Brief writing is, most emphatically, not one of those situations.

Write for the reader - even low-grade morons.

[KipEsquire]

I still say you're unjustifiably projecting your distraction onto others (i.e., assuming it's more ubiquitous than it actually is).

[Ray]

Here's what Garner says:
"niggardly ... has nothing to do with the racial slur that is sounded similarly .... Even so, some speakers and writers have come to shun it just to avoid misunderstandings. And the word itself is sometimes misspelled because of such misunderstandings—e.g.: 'Mr. Graham carries a reputation for being niggerdly [read niggardly] but ..." Dict. Modern Am. Usage 449 (1998).

Here's what I say: Any careful writer pays attention to the sound of words. Forget the definition for a moment; how does niggardly sound? If you think it sounds okay, you have a hearing problem.

[Hackysack]

The notion that one should engage in censorship because of the perennially hurt feelings of the politically correct thought police is sad, frightening, and sickening.

When those who advocate such censorship are lawyers schooled to use language and, presumably, to defend basic liberties like free speech, it just seems light years worse.

[mythago]

The notion that one should engage in censorship

Surely you mean self-censorship. I didn't see Mike suggesting lawyers be subjected to discipline for using "niggardly".

[Brad]

In the anecdote, which I shared in my post, the brief writer complained that this peers were afraid that a black justice (who obviously sits on the court) might take offense to the use of the word niggardly.

That position annoys me because: (1) it assumes the justice and her clerks are likely ignorant, and (2) it is a shallow opinion in that it ignores the possibility that white judges might be offended at words that sound like a racial epithet. (Even if the word used is not offensive).

All that being said - niggardly does sound like it has the same root as that unfortunate other word. And writing for your audience is important. But if lawyers can't use "niggardly" in the company of Supreme Court justices then we ought to just declare the adjective obsolete. Or even label it offensive and inappropriate.

[Censor This]

I see where this is going. Let's simply skip all the interim measures and outlaw all words beginning with the letter "N." That way, no one can ever be accused of using an "N-word" again!

Everyone's sensibilities will be protected---which, of course, is far more important than presumably outdated concepts like the ability to reason, to think for oneself, and to engage in free expression.

That big ole marketplace of ideas is too damned scary, anyway!

[Mike]

"But if lawyers can't use 'niggardly' in the company of Supreme Court justices then we ought to just declare the adjective obsolete. Or even label it offensive and inappropriate."

Makes sense to me.

[christopher king]

I have used "niggardly" on purpose, specifically on race-cases involving discovery motions on behalf of some of my clients, probably 60-70% of whom were black. I am a black, or African-American male. These companies were always white-Caucasian-owned/managed. I usually got my documents but in the long run they got me, and took my license for a year behind some trumped-up charges. As Bruce Cockburn would say.....you pays your money and you take your chance.....

[Timothy Sandefur]

This is all a bunch of niggling.