Bryan Garner on Words
90 ABA Journal Bryan Garner on Words articles.
When in 2004 Google announced its ambitious project of scanning all books ever printed and amassing the information into a huge database, perhaps nobody understood the full ramifications of the…
May 1, 2016 2:10 AM CDT
"Originalism," so called, is perhaps the single issue for which Justice Antonin Scalia, my co-author on two books, was most controversial. I'll never forget his ire—it was full-blown anger—when I…
Apr 1, 2016 2:50 AM CDT
Recently I had the opportunity to sit down with the great Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)—or rather with his books—to see what he had to say about lawyers, their profession and their…
Mar 1, 2016 2:30 AM CST
If you took the
pronunciation quiz in last month's issue, you may well have had any of several reactions, some negative. (1) Denial: That can't be right! I've never…
Dec 1, 2015 2:50 AM CST
Every so often a news item appears about how a particular legal term is most properly pronounced.
Certiorari, for example, surfaces from time to time. Last year an article on…
Nov 1, 2015 2:20 AM CST
The most important part of a brief? That depends on whom you ask. Some say the issue statements. Others say page 1 (which ought to amount to the same thing).…
Sep 1, 2015 6:00 AM CDT
About 10 years ago, I was finishing a book for a friend of mine in London, the late Sir Robert Megarry, when in his mid-90s his health began to fail.…
Aug 1, 2015 6:45 AM CDT
Feb 1, 2015 2:20 AM CST
The Library of Congress has staged a
magnificent exhibit on Magna Carta and its history. It is, after all, the 800th anniversary of the Great Charter of 1215. To…
Jan 1, 2015 5:52 AM CST
My fellow lawyers often bristle when I tell them that, on the whole, our profession can't punctuate. It's rare that I don't have to change commas, colons or hyphens in…
Dec 1, 2014 4:40 AM CST
At a law firm retreat, a partner approached me during a break. She had a problem she hoped I could solve: "I can't read anymore. I've lost the ability. I…
Nov 1, 2014 5:50 AM CDT
Oct 1, 2014 3:00 AM CDT
Podcast Transcript
Stephanie Francis Ward: Language is a living thing. New words and phrases—or even grammatical shifts—mean that a lexicographer’s work is never truly complete.
Bryan A. Garner: Our to-do…
Jul 7, 2014 1:30 PM CDT
Jun 1, 2014 8:30 AM CDT
May 1, 2014 8:40 AM CDT
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