Or any part thereof

Or any part thereof and its many variants is an elegantly redundant square of flannel, perfect for wiping clean the face of just the kind of cherub who would never get his little boat-race grubby in the first place. You know the kind. Butter wouldn’t melt in his jumped-up little gob.

When it comes to face-washing, or chopping down trees in Canada, you may need flannel, but to state it baldly and without qualification omits the undeniable fact you may not need the whole thing. As pathologically as it abhors elegance, legal language deplores a vacuum, and if you’re the sort of attorney who believes that a sum does not include each of its parts taken individually, this expression is perfect for the pregnant pause you might otherwise have in your draft.

It is also a satisfying way of “improving” the drafting of any pernickety counselor — a slam dunk, a fish shot dead in a barrel, the find of flourish that immediately precedes the expression “IN YOUR FACE”, a vigorous high-five and a flamboyant pimp-roll around the end-zone while your team mates mob you.

Timber!