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-{{a|plainenglish|}}A month which promises much but so often disappoints.
+{{a|plainenglish|{{image|discretion and compulsion|jpeg|''The Unbearbable Tension Between Compulsion And Choice'' {{vsr|1906}}}}}}{{d|May|/meɪ/|n., modal v}}
+#(''n.'') A month which promises much but so often disappoints.
+# (''n.'') A prime minister who did likewise.
+# (''modal v.'') A modal [[verb]] which expresses optionality, but is commonly articulated by lawyers as “[[shall be entitled]]” or, if they want to be [[bloody minded]] it (and which lawyer does not?) “[[may, but shall not be obliged to]]”. Or even “[[may, but shall not be obligated to|may, but shall not be ''obligated'' to]]”.
-A prime minister who did likewise.
+“[[May]]” confers an ''[[discretion]]'', not an ''[[obligation]]''. There is one time that you should use this expression in a [[contract]]: when you are conferring on a party a right that party ''would not otherwise have''.
-A modal {{tag|verb}} which, in the argot of a [[Mediocre lawyer|lawyer]], expresses optionality, but is written “[[shall be entitled]]” or, if she wants to be [[bloody minded]] about stating the [[bleeding obvious]] (and which lawyer can stop herself being [[bloody minded]] from time-to time?) “[[may, but shall not be obliged to]]”. Or even “[[may, but shall not be obligated to|may, but shall not be ''obligated'' to]]”. May God stike down whoever first confected ''that'' ghastly formulation.
-“[[May]]” confers an ''[[option]]'', not an ''[[obligation]]''. There is one time that you should use this expression in a [[contract]]: when you are conferring on a party a right that party ''would not otherwise have''.
 To wit:
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 Because it is so ''[[in your face]]''. First, it uses that equivocal staple of fusty compulsion, “[[shall]]” — but, however redundant the construction might otherwise be, it involves no compulsion.
-Second, then it talks, gratuitously, in terms of ''entitlement''. It acts “all entitled”. Now perhaps this is just me, but this has the air about it not of the gentle citizen pottering about her own plot of land, equably and quietly enjoying her rights in a way [[calculated]] to offend no-one. Rather it is the wilfully aggravating disposition of bloody-minded troll, marching up and down her boundary, broadcasting Billy Ray Cyrus LPs to the neighborhood and brazenly waving a Confederate flag where she knows her unionist neighbour can not help but see it.
+Second, then it talks, gratuitously, in terms of ''entitlement''. It acts “all entitled”. Now perhaps this is just me, but this has the air about it not of the gentle citizen pottering about her own plot of land, equably and quietly enjoying her rights in a way [[calculated]] to offend no-one. Rather it is the wilfully aggravating disposition of bloody-minded troll, marching up and down her boundary, wantonly provoking passers-by with a loudhailer.
+For an essay on the modern fear being conferred a choice, see [[discretion]].
 {{sa}}