- By Jim Evans
- Entertainment
Print 
SMART TALK
by Dr. Will S. Sert
NULL AND VOID: At the Center for English as a First Language, we have a collection of the world's most flagrant redundancies, those that include a pair of synonyms.
The legal profession just loves these. That is, the lawyers with poorer thinking or language skills love them. They must thereby get a feeling of self-importance. The very brightest jurists tend to write and speak with clear, tight usage.
Cease and desist, one of legalese's greatest hits, just means stop and stop. So why not say stop? The document might sound even more forceful.
Are fraud and deceit any different, really? Why don't the lawyers say theft and stealing? Oops, now that I've suggested it...
And then we have null and void. Why not null, void, invalid, vacant, forceless, not viable, and nugatory while you're at it? Why stop at just two synonyms? Why not throw the whole thesaurus at everything you say? We promise to try not to laugh.