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It’s a funny thing, but many of my friends who are quickest with shady lawyer jokes are also the ones who spring to the defence of Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell. Except for my lawyer friends, that is, where nobody has a kind word to say about these two. Let me say at the outset…

Most professions are practiced in some form of partnership, be it a duet, or a cast of thousands. And most professional partnerships function at something less than optimal. At any given time, at least one of the partners is agonizing over why he or she should remain in the firm, convinced that he or she…

Q: Norm, why do you insist on putting a hyphen in “e-mail”? Most folks just call it email– isn’t that simpler? A: Yeah, it’s probably simpler, but I don’t like it. Notwithstanding its many idiosyncrasies, English does have some rules of spelling and pronunciation, and “email” doesn’t satisfy them. It also makes more sense to…

You don’t need to be James Comey to understand the value of a memo. Short for “memorandum”, a memo can save your bacon when your memory is called into question. Just as important, a memo created during or immediately after an event will often remind you of errors or omissions in the transaction and give…

Well, actually, nothing. Let me first explain why “youse” is OK, but then let me explain why you shouldn’t say it at the office. There are solid historical reasons why “youse” or “y’all” are absolutely good English, and need to be respected. Regretfully, though, “youse” and “y’all” have lost the status of being “Standard English”,…

It’s common in the trades to say to quibbling customers, “You can have it fast, you can have it cheap, or you can have it good. Pick two.” In other words, says the plumber or the electrician, I can do this well and at a cheaper price, but you’re going to have to wait. Or,…