Comfortable: Difference between revisions

2,240 bytes added ,  2 September 2023
no edit summary
No edit summary
No edit summary
Tags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit
 
(18 intermediate revisions by the same user not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{a|work|}}Reluctant acquiescence, by means of a tacit acknowledgment that your immovable object really doesn’t have a prayer against the other guy’s irresistible force.
{{a|work|
{{image|Comfortably numb|png|An inhouse lawyer, yesterday.}} }}{{D|Comfortable|ˈkʌmftəbəl|}}


Usually expressed in the [[subjunctive]]: You ''could get comfortable'' by being [[inclined]] to be [[supportive]] [[at this stage|at this point in time]] — proverbial broomsticks propping up any number of escape hatches, barn doors, and manholes through which you ''could'' scarper, bolt or drop, were the circumstances to recommend it — there goes that [[subjunctive]] again — but through which you know you won’t have to, because should this whole thing turn to mud, ''so many other people'' will be put in the stockade before you that those lovely portals — still propped up by your trusty broomsticks, if you’ve played it right — will give your sorry behind all the shelter it should need from the forthcoming tempest.  
1. (''[[Outhouse]]''): A state of nonchalance towards a contingency that will never happen that an agent may reach upon payment of a suitable fee.
 
2. (''[[Inhouse]]''): Acquiescence to a palpably poor idea, by means of tacit acknowledgment that your immovable object doesn’t have a prayer against the other guy’s irresistible force.
 
The beauty, for an agent, of the raging [[the victory of form over substance|war between form and substance]] is the invitation it provides to ''stand on ceremony''. This manifests differently for [[Inhouse counsel|those whose salaries represent an operating cost]] compared with [[private practice lawyer|those whose are deducted from the revenue they earn]].
 
A suitably [[protestant]] organisation will erect any number of [[formal]] barriers to doing things, however simple, which present entail a large amount of ''notional'' risk. (''Notional'' risks are risk which ''look'' big to those — [[administrator]]s — who, while having executive ''responsibility'' for them, don’t really ''understand'' them. Compare with ''critical'' risks, which are risks that ''don’t'' look big to people who ''do'' understand them, but ''are'' big. They don’t recognise them because they’ve never seen then before.)
 
These barriers will aggravate [[subject matter experts]], who will understand them to be ''meaningless'', but not [[administrator]]s, who will regard them as ''vital'', and the ''impasse'' can only be resolved by reference to an independent arbitrator of some kind — usually an [[outside counsel|external law firm]], but sometimes an accounting megalith — who can write the cheque the [[administrator]]’s butt won’t cash, for payment of a suitable fee. (The great irony is that, were it ever presented, that cheque — in the form of a [[legal opinion]] — would most likely bounce, but that is another story.)
 
In any case, no risk is taken, a handsome fee is paid, all implicated backsides are covered, and the world moves [[protestant|Calvinistically]] along.We have an essay about this [[protestant and catholic|Protestant and Catholic division]], if you are interested.
 
An  [[in-house lawyer]]’s “comfort” is usually expressed in the [[subjunctive]]: she ''could'' get comfortable, by being ''[[inclined]] to be [[supportive]] [[at this stage|at this point in time]]'' — proverbial broomsticks propping up any number of escape hatches, barn doors, and manholes through which she ''could'' scarper, bolt or drop, were the circumstances to recommend it — there goes that [[subjunctive]] again — but through which she knows she won’t have to, because should this whole thing turn to mud, ''so many other people'' will be put in the stockade before she is that those lovely portals — still propped up by those trusty broomsticks, if she’s played it right — will give her sorry behind all the shelter it should need from the forthcoming [[The tempest|tempest]].


So — get ''comfortable'' in there.
So — get ''comfortable'' in there.
Line 8: Line 21:
*[[inclined|I would be inclined]] to be [[supportive]] [[at this stage]]
*[[inclined|I would be inclined]] to be [[supportive]] [[at this stage]]
*[[Subjunctive]]
*[[Subjunctive]]
*[[The map and the territory]]
*[[Protestant and catholic]]
*[[If in doubt, stick it in]]
{{Ref}}