Look at me, Michael Barbaro

If you didn't already see this, Joe Biden used the word "shylock" in a speech the other day, which triggered a little backlash. I don't care about that. This isn't a piece about how Joe Biden is an idiot. You already know that. That would be like writing a blog post about the sun rising in the east. It ain't exactly breaking news.

However, the really intelligent people who report for the New York Times had this to say:

Raise your hand if you were not familiar with the word "Shylock" before it became a controversy in past 24 hours?

— Michael Barbaro (@mikiebarb) September 17, 2014

Ok, so maybe Mr. Barbaro doesn't have a passing familiarity with The Merchant of Venice. That's somewhat surprising, but fine. I guess they don't teach that kind of esoteric stuff at fancy ivy league colleges anymore.

I love that this reporter at the New York Times, who I'm sure, considers himself smarter and more worldly than us morons down in South Carolina doesn't know the word "shylock". I find that truly hilarious.

Here's the thing. I get that maybe Mr. Barbaro isn't up on his Billy Shakes, but how is that he hasn't seen the movie Get Shorty, either? That's just an unforgivable sin. There's no excuse for not seeing this movie that came out in the John Travolta renaissance. The entire movie is about...a shylock.

Here's a great scene:

If you haven't seen this movie, your homework assignment is to go watch it this weekend.

Look at me, Michael Barbaro. Look at me.

"But as Mr. Obama’s second term nears an end, some experts say the president’s words were a fantasy."

...says The New York Times in discussing the failure of the Obama Administration to deliver on it's promises of high speed rail.

I think this would apply to a lot of things he said.

UPDATE: Welcome Instapundit Twitter followers!

How Do You Correctly Pronounce "Certiorari"?

Even the Justices of the US Supreme Court can't agree.

Yet another sign of a divided U.S. Supreme Court: The justices cannot even agree on how to pronounce the word “certiorari.”

A new and somewhat whimsical research article reveals that justices are “profoundly divided” into at least six camps on the proper way to say that Latin word.

“There was only one point of unanimous agreement,” legal scholar James Duane wrote in the latest edition of The Green Bag legal journal. "They all pronounce the beginning of the word “ser,” presumably because of its obvious resemblance to certain."

I'd be interested to see how the South Carolina Supreme Court Justices come down on pronouncing it. I think we would certainly say it a little more slowly and maybe let the ARRR sound lengthen out a little bit, softening and rounding out the word.

Sounds like a good research project for a law clerk.

"Slight risk of severe weather in the Midlands this week"

That's the headline on a piece over at WIS.

If given a choice, I would prefer a severe risk of slight weather.

South Carolina Supreme Court Rules Against Gamecock Club (I Join in the Dissent)

I didn't get a chance to post on this when it came out, but this opinion from the South Carolina Supreme Court is definitely worth exploring.

On April 2, 2014, by a 4-1 vote, the South Carolina Supreme Court held that the University of South Carolina could not charge an additional seat fee as a prerequisite for purchasing tickets to Charles Lee, who had become a "Lifetime Full Scholarship" level member of the Gamecock Club. 

The language in the contract is that Mr. Lee had "the opportunity to purchase tickets" from the Gamecock Club. Mr. Lee took the position that the Gamecock Club could not subsequently require him to pay additional seat licencing fees, and the South Carolina Supreme Court agreed with him.

Writing for the majority, Justice Kittredge stated:

Were we to accept the University's view of the Agreement, it would mean Lee received little or nothing in the bargain, for the University would always have the ability to demand additional consideration for the opportunity to purchase tickets.

This seems incorrect to me, and the problem is because the operative word is "opportunity". The seat tax was not additional consideration. The seat tax is simply a new condition precedent to have the the opportunity to buy tickets.

Respectfully, I have to side with Justice Pleicones' dissent in this case. Writing a lone dissent, Justice Pleicones stated:

Looking to the plain language, it provides that Lee would be a "Lifetime Full Scholarship Member" with "the opportunity to purchase tickets." Lee has received exactly what he bargained for...I am unable to find any language prohibiting additional fees. Further, the majority acknowledges that a court must enforce an unambiguous contract regardless of its wisdom, folly, apparent  unreasonableness, or the parties' failure to guard their rights carefully.

I have to agree.

The language of the contract said that Mr. Lee would have "the opportunity to buy tickets", and requiring the payment of an additional seat tax does has not deprived Mr. Lee of that opportunity. If he wanted to lock in a certain price, or exempt himself from any future fees, he should have done so.

US Economy's Growth Was Slower Than Expected in 4th Quarter

GDP revised down to 2.4% from 3.5%

As Instapundit would say, it was Unexpectedly!™ revised downwards. Sure. Who could have seen this coming, right?

The President has been telling us that the economy is "poised" for growth. He's been saying that for about five years. At some point being poised for growth isn't really growth. It's failure.

It's like a parent saying that their child has lots of potential. You can say that when your child is 8. When your child is 28 and still doesn't have job, you can't keep saying how much "potential" your kid has. He's a loser.

Abortion Clinics are Now "Choice Providers"

I have some breaking news for all you wordsmiths out there. Abortion clinics are now to be referred to as "Choice Providers". Wow, talk about some Orwellian doublespeak.

Who would advocate for this wording? An abortion advocate?

Actually no. Good guess, though. Give up?

A television news anchor wants to rename abortion clinics as "choice providers". You know, the guy who's supposed to just present facts in an objective way?

Hey, maybe I'll name one of my pistols "Choice Provider".

Euphemism: the substitution of an agreeable or inoffensive expression for one that may offend or suggest something unpleasant; also : the expression so substituted.

Since I like to come up with lists, and since we're renaming abortion clinics, I have a proposed list of some other names we could give to abortion clinics:

1. Gosnell Chapels
2. Murderholes
3. Infanticide by Dismemberment 'R Us
4. Kid Killers Express
5.  Suction Centers

 I guess the problem is that there's really no way to put a happy face on killing a person. It's going to kind of be ugly. So I get why they don't want to talk about it.

h/t to the Zip.

Merry Christmas Eve (Eve)

If you still haven't done all your Christmas shopping, I have a tip from 1962:

The days of getting a dictionary as a stand-alone item are probably gone forever.

Merry Christmas Eve (Eve), y'all.

Loopholes

The Kitchen Cabinet has an excellent post on "Loopholes" in the Tax Code.


Words mean things. It's always best practices to use them correctly.