Surprised by a barrister

[mtbc]

I happened to have news on television and caught a bit of an interview with a bewigged barrister. I had imagined that they would be well-educated masters at expressing themselves but, without paying much attention, I noticed them speaking of less barristers and that something should move as fastly. They also wanted to practice crime, presumably against the English language. Perhaps I awoke on the mean side of the bed this morning but I wonder how much else I would have noticed had I paid more attention. I might have charitably allowed them being flustered by the television camera had they not qualified in a career that rather entails being put on unpleasant spots sometimes. It serves their clients poorly if how they say things distracts from the intended content.

Admittedly, the news is much about their dreadful pay so perhaps we should be glad of any bothering to remain a barrister at all.

Comments

[anna_wing]

"practice crime" is shorthand for "I want to have a criminal practice" which is jargon for "having a legal practice specialising in criminal rather than civil cases".

The rest is down to the usual crappy level of English language teaching and usage pretty much everywhere...

[mtbc]

Yes, had they wanted to practice criminal law or somesuch then I would have rested more easily. (-: (I guess I'd separately suggest that they watch for jargon in addressing an audience of not-lawyers.)

[wildeabandon]

I think that by now using less to mean fewer is common enough that it can't really be considered incorrect. It still makes me twitch, but I have to acknowledge that's a me problem.

Fastly is odd though.

[mtbc]

Argh, next you'll be telling me that I might tolerate regularly as meaning frequently, or exponentially as meaning a lot! Now back to my campaign to use handy words like proximo at people to reintroduce them into the language, except that I keep being distracted away from such efforts by, e.g., people not using software as a mass noun …

[wpadmirer]

OMG, it sounds like they learned to speak from Trump.