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October 15, 2003
"P sues D"
A bit of advice for those who are new to law school, or think they might one day end up in the ol' LS:
Don't verbalize your abbreviations.
With the amount of information they try to cram into their notes, it's no surprise that law students come up with their own various forms of shorthand. There are obvious ones, like P or 
for Plaintiff, and D or 
for Defendant. Less obvious, but still common ones like K for contract. Then there are specialized abbreviations and symbols for the jargon of the particular class. Again, this makes sense.
Shorthand is called shorthand for a reason, however.
When you are called on, it just sounds bad to say "P sues D." You sound like you are reading your notes instead of thinking. Take a moment to look at your notes if you need to, then form normal sentences. If you talk about a case which deals with remedies for the "breach of K," you will be mocked.
It's law school, not AIM (despite what you may do during class). Just imagine if someone said "LOL!" instead of actually laughing. You'd shoot them.
Posted by buddha at October 15, 2003 07:06 PM
Comments
If you or anyone else shoot someone for saying LOL! outloud, I will defend you pro bono. But try not to kill them. I would just love to hear them explain that scar...
Posted by: Aaron at October 15, 2003 11:33 PM
I personally would not have a problem with shooting anyone who uses "LOL," written or spoken. And those who use "LOLOLOLOL" and the like should be fileted with toothpicks. Vinegar soaked toothpicks. Slowly.
Posted by: chocobo puduu at October 16, 2003 09:40 AM
I'm not fond of LOL, but I will tolerate it. I abhor people that use ROFLMAO or any sort of variation on the ROFL theme. They shall all die by my swift and unyielding fist.
Posted by: shoop at October 16, 2003 11:45 AM
If you really hated them, you'd kill them slowly but decisively with the aforementioned swift and unyielding fist.
Posted by: chocobo puduu at October 16, 2003 12:03 PM
I steer clear of "LOL" altogether and use the non sequitur "ha!" hoping to one day start a fad.
Posted by: aaron green at October 16, 2003 01:04 PM
The point remains... it's bad enough to use "LOL" when typing, but it would be dramatically worse to speak it. Sadly, many law students do the equivalent.
Posted by: buddha at October 16, 2003 07:18 PM
I also hate people that use symbols like "pi" or"delta". Just write P or D! Don't pretend you're solving some sort of complicated equation!
Posted by: Guanyao Cheng at October 16, 2003 10:23 PM
Pi and delta are useful for people who hand-write their notes though. If you have bad writing, or write quickly to get everything down, 'P' and 'D' can look awfully similar. And if it's only in their notes -- not in their spoken answers -- it shouldn't affect anyone else.
I type my notes, so it's never really been an issue for me.
Posted by: buddha at October 17, 2003 03:19 AM
a bit late here, but the use of pi and delta annoys me too. I think they should only be used in math, and only appropriately.
I had a boss once who always asked what the 'delta' was. C'mon man, get a grip. Ask what the change was, or the increase/decrease was. Again, it's work, not math class.
Posted by: greg at November 6, 2003 12:58 PM