Over the 14 years I’ve been writing for The Advocate, I’ve covered confusing word pairs a few times.[i] This month I return to that handy topic, covering confusing word pairs that begin with letters from the middle of our alphabet.[ii]

Lawyerly/Lawyerish

Let’s start off with a good confusing pair that depends on nuance and context to understand. Both lawyerly and lawyerish are adjectives that are used to ascribe the actions of an attorney to someone. Generally, lawyerly is a term of praise, while lawyerish is more disparaging. Nevertheless, lawyerly has been used as a term of abuse when the writer’s disposition towards those who practice our esteemed profession tends less towards praise. Thus, you can’t just assume that when you see lawyerly the writer has a positive opinion.

For those who want a term even more disparaging than lawyerish, here is a useful list of names given to lawyers: ambulance chaser, devil, dump truck, green bag, hired gun, jungle fighter, land shark, lawmonger, long-robe man, mouthpiece, pettifogger, shyster, stuff gown, trampler, and waller.

Legalism/Legality

Legalism is an extreme form of legality. Legality describes either the quality of being legal or the strict adherence to the law. Legalism describes when formalism is carried to the extreme or a disposition to take the form of the law too far.

Take these examples:

The client questioned the legality of the contract.

Strict legalism punishes the hungry for stealing bread.

The first is very neutral and common. While the second is a great plot point for Les Miserables, had the judge looked at the policies behind the criminal sentences, Victor Hugo’s masterpiece could have been much shorter.

Loathe/Loath

Loathe is a verb meaning to detest. Loath is an adjective that describes an extreme reluctance to do something. 

            I loathe assigning grades to papers.

            I was loath to start reading all seventy final exams.

The most common error with this pair is to always use loathe, even when you mean loath. This is one of those instances where spell check won’t help if you mess up, so remember that if you already have a verb, don’t use the “e.”

Malfeasance/Misfeasance

Both malfeasance and misfeasance describe wrongful conduct. The difference between the two is whether the conduct is also illegal. When an action is both wrong and illegal, use malfeasance; when it’s a proper act, but done in a wrongful manner, use misfeasance.

The public official accepted bribes, that’s malfeasance.

The public official used his influence to find jobs for family members, that’s misfeasance.

Of course, anytime you see a word with “mal” in it, you know it’s going to be bad!

Meretricious/Meritorious

Meretricious comes from the Latin word for prostitute and means to allure through deception. It is most commonly used to refer to relationships like marriage but that aren’t sanctioned. Meritorious means praiseworthy, but in law we usually mean that a claim or defense has legal merit and a chance to succeed.

Mixing up these two terms could drastically change the meaning: “Her defense was meretricious” suggests that the defense has little chance of success. If that’s what you mean, great! But if you meant to describe the defense as praiseworthy, you’ve misled the reader.[iii]

I use this to remember the difference: meritorious rhymes with glorious, and both are good.

Noisome/Noisy

This pair makes my inner word-nerd happy. Noisome comes from the same root as the word annoyance.  It refers to anything that is unpleasant or stinky. Noisy is anything loud. So, when something offends your nose, use noisome and when something offends your ears, use noisy.

            The sandwich left under his bed was quite noisome after several days.

            The party downstairs was too noisy to let me sleep.

Number/Amount

I’ve covered this difference the very first time I addressed confusing word pairs, but just a quick reminder.[iv]  Use number for things you can count and amount for those you cannot.

            The number of books I read on vacation was astounding.

            The amount of food I ate on vacation was also astounding.

Observation/Observance

Both observation and observance are nouns related to the verb to observe.  An observation is a perception of something.  An observance is the adherence to a custom or law. 

Experts are adept at assembling observations into a credible narrative.

Universal observance of safety guidelines is mandatory.

Obtuse/Abstruse

Obtuse means blunt, full, or dimwitted. Abstruse means arcane or hard to understand.

Thus, while patent terms may be abstruse to non-specialists, she was too obtuse to understand even the simplest legal terms. [v]

Conclusion

So, maybe you were expecting a few P words based on the title.  I must admit that the most recent confusing pairs column I wrote focused on P words, so I skipped those this time.  Still, I hope you learned a little this month. I know that I did, even if it was mostly odd slang terms for lawyers!

Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff has been a member of the Idaho Bar since 2004. She has taught legal research and writing for fifteen years. When not working, she enjoys spending her time hiking and snowshoeing in the Idaho mountains with her husband and dog.

Endnotes:

[i] This is my sixth column dedicated to confusing words.  The others are: Problematic P Words, The Advocate (February 2023); Alphabet Soup: More Confusing Word Pairs, The Advocate (June/July 2016); Confusing Word Pairs III: D Words, The Advocate (January 2015); Some February Fun: F Words, The Advocate (February 2014); Confusing Word Pairs, The Advocate (January 2012).

[ii] I recently learned that children are learning to sing the ABCs to a different tune, partially because the tune that was used for years led children to thinking the letters L, M, N, O, and P were one letter: elimenope.  And now you understand the inspiration for the title.

[iii] This example is from an infamous malapropism quoted in Paul R. Clancy, Just a Country Lawyer 121 (1974).

[iv] Tenielle Fordyce-Ruff, Confusing Word Pairs, The Advocate (January 2012).

[v] Sources: Bryan A. Garner, Garner’s Dictionary of Legal Usage (3d ed. 2011); Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style, § 12.3 (2d ed. 2002).