FIGHTING WORDS: I love the language of lawyers,
and the more weirdly remote, the better. In a recent letter sent
out to as many as seven local merchants, attorney Barry Cappello
charged that the pro-union posters in their business establishments
could generate “obloquy” toward News-Press owner and publisher
Wendy P. McCaw — against whom the current Teamsters Union drive is
directed. “Obloquy” is one of those beautifully archaic words used
only and exclusively by lawyers in the full tumescence of their
contrived indignation. Its chief value, I suspect, is that it
allows the user to charge his or her client twice the normal rate.
For the record, it’s Latin for “to speak against” and generally
refers to harshly negative language.
I was willing to give Cappello serious style points for
including “obloquy,” but then he blew it by failing to deploy its
kissing cousin and Siamese twin, “calumny.” These two go together
like “rock ’n’ roll” or “death and taxes.” For Barry to use
“obloquy” without “calumny” constitutes legal grounds for McCaw to
demand her money back. But Cappello’s real offense in all this was
sending out the nasty letters in the first place. Cappello
threatened to sue the business owners if they didn’t immediately
remove the offending pro-union signs, which read “McCaw Obey the
Law.” Barry’s alleged gripe is that the slogan implies that the
News-Press’s imperious publisher is, in fact, a lawbreaker, which
in some circles might be considered defamatory.
One can see the point, but only sort of. First, there is the
issue of fair play. In its relentless editorializing against the
Teamsters, the News-Press habitually accuses the union of extortion
and all kinds of criminal conduct, verbally exhuming the corpse of
ex-union boss and crime stooge Jimmy Hoffa at every possible
opportunity. By contrast, “McCaw Obey the Law” is skim milk.
Secondly, the law allows a certain degree of rhetorical excess in
the conduct of political campaigns, on the sensible ground that
free and vigorous public debate, however messy, is far superior for
all concerned than any more hamstrung alternatives.