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Re:States bring action against Google under federal and stat... by curiousllama on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @04:46PM (#25449204)
Legalese is a technical language. As far as I’m concerned, it’s as close to plain English as SQL: close at first glance, but actully quite distinct.
Re:States bring action against Google under federal and stat... by thechao on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @06:39PM (#25450291)
I have a long-abiding interest in linguistics, and formal training in programming language theory. English legalese is my favorite pseudo-language. It's also the first pseudo-language I remember learning about, from my uncle. My uncle is a very accomplished attorney (up to the Supreme Court) and his comment was, to paraphrase: "legal texts are usually very clear once you understand them; it is the discovery of facts, and the application of the text to facts that are the domain of lawyers and judges".
Re:States bring action against Google under federal and stat... by jacques_chester on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @07:07PM (#25450551)
In law school the mnemonic was "IRAC": Issues, Rules, Application, Conclusion. A lot of legal writing at least rhymes with that structure.
Re:States bring action against Google under federal and stat... by azuriten on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @06:07PM (#25450019)
That's fair for law documents; in the same way I'd expect your peers to understand your SQL.

I just wish privacy policies, which are supposed to be for consumers, were written in the plain English.

Re:States bring action against Google under federal and stat... by kemitchell on Wednesday December 16, 2020 @09:43PM (#25451762)
It's just a dialect with some jargon. Still English, with all its chaos, at its core.