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| [[File:Looking Forward.png|450px|frameless|center]] | | [[File:Looking Forward.png|450px|frameless|center]] |
| }}{{quote|''During the snow melt in 1941, Lance-Corporal Pinterman’s mother Gladys was swept away in an avalanche. Group Captain Cocklecarrot summoned Sergeant Baxter-Morley into his office.
| | }}There are ''ways'' of saying things. |
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| ''“Sergeant, tell Pinterman his mother has died.”
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| ''At reveille next morning, the drill-sergeant ran through his usual order of the day. “Johnson and Hodgkinson, report for guard duty. Fotherington-Thomas, you are on latrines. Pinterman, your mother carked it: have the morning off. All right, men: fall out.”
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| ''Pinterman — a sensitive soul — was devastated. Not a month later, his father also died, taken by a bear.
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| Cocklecarrot once again called in his drill-sergeant. “I say, Baxter-Morley, Pinterman’s father popped his clogs. I need to let him know. But look here, Sergeant: the poor chap didn’t get out of his bed for two weeks last time. How about being a little more tactful this time?”
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| The sergeant clicked heels and exited, calling the unit to assemble at once.
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| ''“All right men, fall in. Now we are conducting a parenthood survey. Every one of you whose father is still alive, take three steps forward. PINTERMAN WHAT THE DEVIL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING?”}}There are ''ways'' of saying things.
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| When drafting a legal contract, you might expect experienced lawyers would avoid writing in a way that will feel to opponents like the poke of a sharpened stick in the ribs. | | When drafting a legal contract, you might expect experienced lawyers would avoid writing in a way that will feel to opponents like the poke of a sharpened stick in the ribs. |