Sadly Useful Synonyms

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary published a timely article in its "Words at Play" series yesterday: Seven Words for Lying. This is not only timely but very useful, given Donald Trump's at-best nodding acquaintance with the truth, as these seven synonyms can be useful to keep all the news reports from sounding the same:

Prevaricate - (verb) to avoid telling the truth by not directly answering a question. Prevarication is the noun.

Palter - (verb) to act insincerely or deceitfully.

Mendacious - (adjective) likely to tell lies. Mendacity is the noun.

Dissemble - (verb) to hide under a false appearance.

Fib - (noun and verb) a trivial or childish lie.

Equivocate - (verb) to use unclear language especially to deceive or mislead someone. Equivocation is the noun.

Perjure - (verb) to tell a lie under oath*.  The noun form is perjury.

Don't thank me. Be sorry we need so many different ways to say it, when God Almighty only needed one commandment.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Kittenfishing

Back when I was in the dating pool, shortly after the earth's crust cooled, getting a date wasn't easy. Rather than the ruggedly handsome, manly stud you've come to know, I was skinny, awkward, and something of a nerd, which was an impediment to attracting the attention of the girls in whom I was most interested. But at least there were odd, 21st century dating practices I managed to avoid back then ... like kittenfishing.

I'd never heard of kittenfishing until this morning, when I stumbled on an article titled The New Dating Hazards You Need to Know About. I hadn't heard about catfishing, either, which is supposedly the dating hazard from which kittenfishing has mutated. I must lead a sheltered life.

Anyhow, kittenfishing is defined in the article as "the act of unrealistic self-presentation," for instance, using old and exceptionally flattering photos on social media and dating websites, or claiming interests one doesn't really have and experiences one has never actually experienced. Catfishing, on the other hand, is the creation of an entirely fake individual - supposedly, more attractive and engaging than oneself - for use in Internet dating.

I'm glad I'm out of the dating market. Things were hard enough back in the Paleozoic.

Have a good day, and watch out for catfishers, kittenfishers, and other such hazards of dating in the digital age. More thoughts tomorrow.

Bilbo

Legal Question

Perhaps one of my readers who is a lawyer can answer this for me ...

Earlier this year, we were involved in a civil court proceeding which, unfortunately, did not go the way we expected it would. In fact, we were astounded at the outcome which, in view of the evidence, made no sense. In the aftermath of the trial I learned an interesting and disconcerting thing when I called the office of the county Clerk of Court to request a copy of the transcript: there is no record of the trial testimony unless one of the parties to the affair pays to have it recorded. And not only that, even if such a record is made, there is no requirement that it be submitted to the court to be added to the official record of the trial. You can order a copy from the company that was hired to do the transcription, but at huge cost ... this on top of whatever the recorder was paid in the first place.

I don't know if this is a peculiarity of Virginia law and procedure or if it applies in other states as well, but I think it's awful. Without an official documentary record of the proceedings - by which I mean a verbatim record of the testimony and conduct of the trial, prepared by a disinterested court-employed or court-appointed recorder - how do we later reconstruct what happened and assess the basis for appeal? If one of the parties paid someone to make the recording, what guarantee is there that the recording is accurate?

So, all you attorneys out there ... how is it in states other than Virginia? I'm curious*.

Have a good day. More thoughts (and maybe other questions) tomorrow.

Bilbo

* Which rhymes with "furious," but that's not important now.