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Singulars and plurals: Difference between revisions
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:'''Den''': Wait a minute! It says “sausa''ges''” up there, not just one sausage! Look at that! Look, it says “sausa''ges''”! Where’s me other sausage, then? | :'''Den''': Wait a minute! It says “sausa''ges''” up there, not just one sausage! Look at that! Look, it says “sausa''ges''”! Where’s me other sausage, then? | ||
::—''Comic Strip Presents: The Bad News Tour (1983)'' | ::—''Comic Strip Presents: The Bad News Tour (1983)'' | ||
To what end the forensic remark “All references to the singular [[shall]] include the [[plural]], and vice versa”? | To what end the forensic remark “All references to the singular [[shall]] include the [[plural]], and vice versa”? | ||
To your correspondent, | To your correspondent, a nothing. An unwholesome zed; an unnecessary letter. This is throat-clearing text which, once in, benefits from the loving embrace of the [[anal paradox]], but serves no purpose beyond the [[Mediocre lawyer|mediocre attorney’s]] noble pursuit of prolixity. No lawyer will ever object to it, but — and ''because'' — it plays no role in unravelling the practical meaning of the legal {{t|contract}}, bar the obvious ones, where a singular does ''not'' include the plural — such as where a fellowis purchasing a single banger from a nasty café, and this language would be a nonsense. | ||
Can you imagine standing up in court and learnedly submitting that a [[plural]] did not include the [[singular]]? Good news: just such an exchange features in the pages of the {{jclr}}! Let us turn to our go-to thought experiment: a testy exchange between {{jerrold}} and {{cocklecarrot}}, knee-deep, as they usually are, in bitter [[litigation]]. | Can you imagine standing up in court and learnedly submitting that a [[plural]] did not include the [[singular]]? Good news: just such an exchange features in the pages of the {{jclr}}! Let us turn to our go-to thought experiment: a testy exchange between {{jerrold}} and {{cocklecarrot}}, knee-deep, as they usually are, in bitter [[litigation]]. | ||