Re: USAGE: Persons unknown
| From: | Philip Newton <philip.newton@...> |
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| Date: | Friday, March 16, 2007, 16:12 |
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On 3/16/07, Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> wrote:
> Legalese has lots of phrases that seem similarly odd out of context
Another contribution of legalese is doublets where one word is
Anglo-Saxon and the other is Romance.
Without being sure whether this applies in all cases here, I think
this is responsible for phrases such as "null and void", "without let
or hindrance", "aid and abet", and similar, seemingly-redundant
doublets. A quick google also turned up "ways and means" as well as
ones I hadn't heard of such as "goods and chattels", and I also
remembered "(last) will and testament".
Cheers,
--
Philip Newton <philip.newton@...>