Unless and until

A cretinous expression that means simply “until”, because “until” implies “unless”. Inevitably couched as a double negative, you may see, from the nib of a fastidious wordsmith:

“Party A shall not be obligated to do any such thing unless and until state of affairs X shall have occurred.”

• “Until X” means “at any time up to the point at which X happens”.
• “Unless X” means “except if X has happened”.

At the point in time at which X happens, then X must have happened. Q.E.D.

To put it in a way which noted legal commentator Professor Leonard Kravitz might recognise:

“It ain’t happened ’til it’s happened.”

But don’t let that stream of irresistible logic stop you flannelling away to your heart’s content.

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