Last week at the DRI conference in New York an especially
talented lawyer delivered an especially interesting address.
Everything about the speech was riveting and splendid, until she
deployed the word "fulsome" in the increasingly popular,
albeit wrong, fashion, as a synonym for full or complete. About
twenty heads spun around to look at us with glee, knowing we had
recently railed against this misuse. How is "fulsome"
superior to the simpler, correct words? The interesting, specific
meaning of fulsome is being diluted by foolish pomposity. Still,
the message conveyed to us by this event was not so much about the
increasing misuse of "fulsome" but more about our
increasing reputation for crankiness. It is a curse. When someone
hands us a draft for editing, we must pass through it at least
twice. Only after clearing away the grammatical wreckage can we
review for substance. It is undeniably a weakness on our part. A
misplaced "only" will throw us off and make us want
