Spin Cycle: What's in a Word?

Ok, so this week's Spin Cycle?  Is on language.  I could totally go with the easy one here.  I mean, I curse like a sailor on leave on a regular basis.  It's probably a habit I need to break what with the little one on the way.  Hell, I have enough damn time for that anyway, right?  Shit yes, I do.

No, I thought I'd blog about something I've learned a little bit about this week.  (the reason why I didn't blog yesterday)  I went to this two day conference on Bridges to Poverty (a model developed by Ruby Payne) about the cultural barriers/differences between members in generational poverty and middle class - the barriers in language, ways of viewing the world, education, financial management, etc., and I'm sure I am totally butchering the whole premise of the book and classes, but suffice it to say I found it incredibly enlightening and really enjoyed it.  And I think it'll be very helpful in communicating with our clients and in explaining the legal system to them. 

So how does this relate to language, you ask?  Well, it does.  I learned there is a difference between casual register and formal register.  It's all how you communicate and understand others.  See, we lawyers have this serious problem.  We talk in legal-ease.  We're formal.   We assume that everyone around us understands what we say.  We use big legal words (sometimes to sound important) but mostly because we were brainwashed to do so in law school.  You can't be traumatized brain-washed forced happy to read boring, old case law for three straight years and not walk around talking like you wear a white wig and wear a black robe.  For some, it's intentional (to sound smarter than the person they are speaking to).  but those people are jerks.  For me, it's because it's ingrained.  I can't help it.   But I'm trying to work on it.

Part of what I do in my job is to help people who come to our office to seek legal help understand the court system and prepare them for court.  More importantly, I try to prepare them for what to say to the judge and what to understand when reading legal documents.  Because let's face it - with words like Petitioner, Respondent, Wherefore, Heretofore, Bequeath, etc., it can feel like you are reading a foreign language.  And it's intimidating.  And scary.  So something I'm working hard to do is to explain it in a way that is easy to understand.  Read through the legal document and explain exactly what it is saying and explain that it's not as bad as it sounds when first reading it. 

Part of that is also preparing a client for testifying.  Something in a casual register might be acceptable to say in just regular conversation with friends or family...might not be the best thing to say in court when in front of a judge.  It can be hard, but it can be done.  And it does take practicing or going through question and after question so there are no surprises when someone is on the stand.  (Surprises in court are bad, bad, bad.  Trust me.)  And it's not to be mean, but it's to help.  Because nothing is more frustrating to someone when you're in an unfamiliar situation and feel like people are patronizing you and talking over your head.  And like surprises...a frustrated witness is a bad thing, too.  Plus, I want the client walking away from the whole legal experience feeling good about it.  Not feeling stupid or taken advantage of or used. 

So to me, when I hear the word language, I don't just think of English, Spanish, French, or (insert another language here.)  It also means a way of communicating, a person's speech.  And I need to find some way to end this rambling blog.  Because I could go on and on about this, but...I might be boring you all.   So in the words of Forest Gump "that's all I have to say about that." 

Therefore, I hereby order this blog post terminated henceforth.