Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes

[Jonathan Lighter]

Not everybody can think like Sherlock Holmes.

JL

On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 6:07 PM, Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I am not sure I understand what you are saying. The term "right of
> audience" is key to the distinction between barristers and solicitors in
> the UK.
>
> The important question to me is why the NYS AG's office used the phrase.
> Were they using a phrase that they knew would be meaningful to a British
> reader?
>
> Or did in fact the AG's office write the letter -- was it forged?
>
> DanG
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 5:47 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:
>
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > Subject:      Mastermind: How to Think like Sherlock Holmes
> >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > (Yes this is on topic for the American Dialect Society ... eventually.)
> >
> > An American woman admitted to the bar at Middle Temple Hall, known
> > for the first performance of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night" and the
> > Inn of Court of William Blackstone, and thereafter employed by a
> > British law form, has come under suspicion by the Bar Standards Board
> > of England and Wales.  As part of her effort to further document her
> > qualifications, she submitted a letter confirming her status in the
> > Bar of the State of New York from the office of then-Attorney General
> > Eliot Spitzer.  The letter from Spitzer's office includes the phrase
> > "she has regularly and continuously exercised rights of audience in
> > the courts of the State of New York."
> >
> > Although she first came to the attention of her law firm when a clerk
> > noticed that she appeared to be much older than the age stated in her
> > employment application, someone who "thinks like Sherlock Holmes"
> > might have noticed the Britishism "audience."  Although I do not know
> > the formal legal terminology, I suppose in this context an American
> > would have used "appearance".  I suppose subservient English lawyers
> > were permitted to have an audience and be listened to, while brash
> > American lawyers assert a right to appear and be heard.
> >
> > For the reference to Holmes, see "The Adventure of the Three
> > Garridebs," viz. "plow" and "artesian well."  For "How to Think Like
> > Sherlock Holmes," see the book by Maria Konnikova (2013).
> >
> > Joel
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org