- For the Manual of Style entry on the usage of 'and/or' on wikipedia, see The Manual of Style.
And/or is a phrase used to indicate that one or more of the stated cases may occur. For example, the sentence "He will eat cake, pie, and/or brownies" indicates that although the person may eat any of the three listed desserts, the choices are not exclusive; the person may eat one, two, or all three of the choices.
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Criticism
As the phrase and/or has grown in usage in recent years, from business jargon to legal writing and popular culture, it has likewise come under criticism. Some grammarians have pointed out that the phrase is redundant, since the word or logically and grammatically encompasses the same meaning. That is, the sentence "He will eat cake, pie, or brownies" still permits the person to eat one, two, or all three of the choices. There is an ongoing debate about whether the English word or (without either) is sometimes used in the sense of an exclusive or.
Ideally, the word either would be used whenever mutual exclusivity is intended to avoid any ambiguity. "When using either as a conjunction, you can apply it to more than two elements in a series."[1] Thus, "He will eat either cake, pie, or brownies" appropriately indicates that the choices are mutually exclusive. If the function of or is clear from the context, it is not necessary to use either as a conjunction. Consider the following conversation:
Person 1: You may select one item for dessert.
Person 2: What are my choices?
Person 1: You can eat cake, pie, or brownies.
In order to remove any doubts as to whether an or is inclusive, one may use an expression like or both, as in "You may have some cake or brownies, or both," or, "He will eat any of the following: cake, pie, or brownies."
Use of and/or in the legal profession
The phrase has come under considerable criticism in the legal profession in both American and British courts. Judges have called it a "freakish fad," an "accuracy-destroying symbol," and "meaningless." The Wisconsin Supreme Court referred to it as "that befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced verbal monstrosity." Perhaps most crushing of all, the Kentucky Supreme Court said it was a "much-condemned conjunctive-disjunctive crutch of sloppy thinkers." It is particularly damaging in legal writing, in addition to being generally sloppy writing, because a bad-faith reader of a contract can pick whichever suits him, the "and" or the "or."[2] Courts called on to interpret it have applied a wide variety of standards, with little agreement.[3]
Use of and/or in banking
Use of 'and/or' in reference to the payee on a cheque has been contemplated in both the United States and Canada. In the United States, UCC §3-110 - Identification of Person to Whom Instrument is Payable - states that
If an instrument is payable to two or more persons alternatively, it is payable to any of them and may be negotiated, discharged, or enforced by any or all of them in possession of the instrument. If an instrument is payable to two or more persons not alternatively, it is payable to all of them and may be negotiated, discharged, or enforced only by all of them. If an instrument payable to two or more persons is ambiguous as to whether it is payable to the persons alternatively, the instrument is payable to the persons alternatively.
The last part reading If an instrument payable to two or more persons is ambiguous as to whether it is payable to the persons alternatively, the instrument is payable to the persons alternatively contemplates use of and/or, and how an item with those words written is to be accepted (use of or prevails).
In Canada, this is not as clearly defined, and not contained within any Canadian Payments Association Rules. It is generally accepted that the most conservative approach would be to force double endorsement (all named payees) to mitigate the possibility of one of the named payees' contesting the encashment of the cheque.
See also
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Look up and/or in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
Notes
- ^ The American Heritage Book of English Usage. "Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case" bartleby.com URL accessed on August 31, 2006.
- ^ Garner, Bryan A. "Looking for words to kill? Start with these." Student Lawyer 35.1 (2006): 12-14. American Bar Association.
- ^ Roger Shuy (April 17, 2008). "Legal uses of and/or…or something". Language Log. http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=47. Cited works include David Mellinkoff, The Language of the Law (Little Brown 1963) and Larry Solan, The Language of Judges (Chicago 1993).
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