I received an e-mail from my landlord the other day asking if I could “furnish” him with the latest deposit slip for my rent.
I was also informed that “pursuant” to a section of my contract, I was expected to pay an outstanding water bill. I was also asked to “kindly revert to the undersigned” – a gentleman I am on first-name terms with. What’s the point of this anecdote? You might have guessed- we are going to have a quick look at e-mail style.
Anyone who has received a contract or tried to decipher a legal document knows just how difficult it can be to get to the bottom of what is actually being said. That is one reason we pay such exorbitant fees for lawyers to rephrase the legalese into laymen’s terms.
Source:
The Star: Archaic e-mail language
When I was managing a small housing development company in KL, I was guilty as charged, for using archaic expressions when corresponding with the lawyers (who acted for us as well as purchasers, and bankers' lawyers in connection with loan documentation and disbursements), which influenced me when writing to purchasers.
With the lawyers, I had to, to a certain extent, because how else when we were supposed to 'undertake to refund... if the transfer cannot be effected...', because we had to practically repeat the relevant parts in our reply using the required expressions?
I wish I can remember more of the terms used in their letters, like for example:
'even date', 'hereinafter', 'herewith', 'under-signed', 'transmission', 'aforesaid', and so on.
I must admit I strive towards being 'letter perfect' to the best of my ability. We must admit, each of us, has 'blind spots' which we ourselves are unable to spot. I was careful when drafting letters and made sure they were as clear as possible. In fact, I even pointed out a particular letter which my lawyer friend sent to us which was obviously not vetted by him before he scribbled his signature! To me, even though letters with imperfect English can still be understood, a well written perfect letter is certainly more desirable, can be proudly shown to anyone, and helps to promote the image of the firm or company it represents.
In the case of emails, 'lol' or 'laugh out loud' is currently the subject of much discussion over its overuse yet sometimes misunderstood by those who thought they knew what the letters represent. The use of such initials and abbreviations have contributed to the decline in our standard of English. After much use, sometimes the spellings of the original words are forgotten.
To give an unrelated example, I tried to find out the full name of 'Bersih' which I thought was an acronym of the Malay version of 'Coalition for clean and fair elections' but it turned out to be just a chosen word (rather apt) from 'Gabungan Pilihanraya Bersih dan Adil'! How many of us who use the term 'Bersih' know this?
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