Avoiding spelling mistakes.

Legal 

For all Thai writers of English, there are challenges in spelling words based on the way we may believe they sound when we say them. Since pronunciation is not stressed in the education system in the Kingdom, ideals about standard pronunciation may be confused. This problem occurs especially when our ideas about how a word sounds contradicts how English letters are expected to sound. The simple and important word legal is an example. In Thai English it is sometimes seen spelled wrong as legel. It would be difficult to study at the TU Faculty of Law or even be a member of modern society, without needing to know how to spell the word legal correctly at some point. As we know, the adjective legal means having to do with the law. It also refers to something that is according to the law. There is another common usage for the adjective legal, referring to a size of paper. If paper measures 8.5 inches wide by 14 inches long, it is called legal size paper.  This type of paper is used in offices in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Commonwealth countries. Note that paper with slightly smaller dimensions, 8.5 x 11 inch, is considered standard letter size. Why is legal size paper somewhat larger than other paper size formats? As with many such differences, there is no clear explanation. Legal size paper was decided upon before such things as copying and scanning were possible, so it was not considered a problem. Today of course, when we try to scan documents of different sizes, we may encounter problems. Even hundreds of years ago, legal size paper was a challenge for storage, since larger paper is always more difficult to file than smaller formats. Part of the motivation may have been that because lawyers take many notes, they appreciate a larger format paper. In the US, a Committee on the Simplification of Paper Sizes was established in the Bureau of Standards in 1921. The goal was to create standard paper sizes in the USA. Two commercial sizes were decided upon, 17 inches by 28 inches and 17 inches by 22 inches. There was no explanation of why these sizes were chosen. When these two formats were folded, the result was letter and legal paper.

How can we avoid spelling legal wrongly? A first step might be to feel more secure about the letters gal that end this short word. Science students may think that these letters must always be pronounced as they are in the name Galileo Galilei. The gal, sometimes called galileo after Galileo Galilei, is a unit of acceleration used in the science of gravimetry. Or students who enjoy going to see movies at the mall may think of Gal Gadot, an actress who starred as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), Wonder Woman (2017), and Justice League (2017). TU students may relax from their difficult hours of study by watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice at the Rewat Buddhinan Music Room of the Pridi Banomyong Library, Tha Prachan campus. If we are thinking of Galileo Galilei or Gal Gadot, it may surprise that the letters gal in the word legal do not sound like the letters gal in those names. Instead of sounding like Gal Gadot or Galileo Galilei, the letters gal in the adjective legal sound more like gul. For some reason, it is unusual to spell the word legal wrong legul. Instead, a far more popular wrong spelling is legel. Why should this be? Perhaps because we think of the law as a field where balance is extremely important. There is even a famous visual representation of justice as Lady Justice, from an ancient Roman symbol. In statues and other portrayals, Lady Justice holds a set of scales from her left hand to weigh arguments on both sides for any case. By weighing the equally, she shows fairness and equity. Possibly reflecting this symmetry and balance, the wrong spelling legel is perfectly balanced. This incorrect spelling is the same whether spelled forwards or backwards. The two letter e’s are in the same position. To those who are thinking about the balance of the law, the wrong spelling legel might be more satisfying than the right spelling, legal, where the vowels are different. The difficulty is that fairly often in English, the spelling that may make us feel better is not the correct one. So we must keep in mind to reject the good feeling that the wrong spelling legel may bring, and remember the right one.

To do so we can remember another important adjective ending with the letters egal. This is regal, or having to do with royalty. There is also another important adjective starting with the letters egal, egalitarian, meaning to follow the idea that all people deserve equal rights and opportunities. We may invent a short sentence to help us think of these words and there spelling:

The regal proclamation established a more egalitarian society.

As we think repeatedly of words that use the letters egal and place legal among them, it is less likely that we will make the error of trying to spell the word some other way. Here are some examples in context to further remind us of the correct spelling:

• It has also quietly, and with much less resistance, slowed many forms of legal immigration without the need for Congress to rescind a single visa program enshrined in the law.
• It had no standing in international law (except within the law of the sea, which allows for the hot pursuit of vessels into international waters), and since at least March 1965 the State Department Office of the Legal Adviser had rejected it as an appropriate justification for crossing the Cambodian border.
• Information about legal issues affecting small businesses, including commentary and archival articles published in the periodical.
• Only a decade ago, partisan gerrymandering appeared all but a dead legal issue.
• New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, legal case in which, on March 9, 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously (9–0) that, for a libel suit to be successful, the complainant must prove that the offending statement was made with “ ‘actual malice.’
• In this legal context, the phrase refers to knowledge or reckless lack of investigation, rather than its ordinary meaning of malicious intent. In his concurring opinion, Justice Black explained that “‘[m]alice,’ even as defined by the Court, is an elusive, abstract concept, hard to prove and hard to disprove.
• In this course, students will receive a broad introduction to the diverse legal world and various practice areas.
• For many, a law degree is the first step along the path to a career in the legal sector, often followed by the further study and training needed to become a practicing solicitor or barrister.
• The Legal and Risk branch is responsible for the provision of legal services to the University. We advise University staff on a range of legal issues that arise from the University’s diverse learning, teaching and research endeavours – from the very simple to the very complex.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)