November 08, 2005

Tripped up last night in my corporations law reading by a delightfully odd sentence:

He knew that what he had said would consternate the Keevils.
-Teck Corp. Ltd. v. Millar (B.C. 1973)

It's not just that Keevils is a funny name, or that "consternate the Keevils" sounds like a deviant board game, it's the string of small words delaying content, then crashing into the solid mass of "consternate."

I try to be an obediant law student, but I keep getting snagged on these bits of language.

1 comment:

hardyf said...

that's cool. reading a textbook "forest stand dynamics" right now... and every 200 pages or so, a catching phrase happens. you also get names like "trembling aspens" & "black pines" in forestry textbooks tho - so it happens more often. makes me wanna show the person next to me - who definitely wouldnt care. the only writing devoid of any poetic merit per 500 pgs i find is finance. like yr site.