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Chris -- 2025-05-10
Someone told me the other day that a friend was behaving like a ‘back-room lawyer’. ‘Barrack-room lawyer’ I think is the proper term, meaning someone who thinks they know the rulebook backwards and proclaims it loudly. Eggcorn material ?
Last edited by DavidB (2015-11-30 04:43:49)
Bi-lingual English / French amateur etymologist and all-round pedant
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I would probably have said this one myself. I vaguely recognize the barrack-room lawyer phenomenon and term, but the other sounds more natural to me. We have back-room deals, back-room politicking, etc., so a back-room lawyer might be an independently formed concept. But I would guess it probably did get a bit of an eggcorny boost in its beginnings.
*If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand,
we would be too simple-minded to understand it* .
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The number of idiomatic expressions that come out of wars and the armed forces is remarkable. The ‘barrack-room lawyer’ is one I hadn’t met yet. There is no common understanding of the term as far as I can tell – it means either someone well versed in the rule book, or someone who thinks they are knowledgeable but are not. Time to bring the expression up to date. How about a break room lawyer, standing around the watercooler instead of the canteen?
If you are facing a divorce, and unless your friend is a lawyer, or divorcee themselves, take whatever ‘Break room lawyer’ counsel they freely offer with a grain of salt.
Style magazine
If you are facing a divorce, and unless your friend is a lawyer, or divorcee themselves, take whatever ‘Break room lawyer’ counsel they freely offer with a grain of salt.
Blog
Later this year I will hit 20 years in the warehouse. Been mostly everywhere, and am one of the leaders of the free world, so to speak. But not a ‘break room lawyer”, so I won’t spew out the exact details of the employee agreement. But here’s the answers you are looking for from someone who knows.
Break room chat at Costco
When I read columns like Hedges, I’m reminded of the break room lawyer who was an expert in everything wrong.
Activist magazine
DavidB, when I see your posts, all I seem to be able to say is Malkovich malkovich
Last edited by David Bird (2015-12-01 12:50:51)
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