“War does not determine who is right … only who is left.” This brainteaser is credited to Bertrand Russell, the 20th century British philosopher and mathematician.  “If I agreed with you, we’d both be wrong.” This conundrum is attributed to Sir Winston Churchill, the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, who was apparently a big fan of the paraprosdokian.

What is a Paraprosdokian?

It is a figure of speech in which the second part of a sentence, phrase, or larger dialogue is unexpected or unanticipated. It causes the reader or listener to reinterpret the first part, trying to understand the meaning and connotation. I am sure many of us have not heard this word before.  It takes the listener or reader aback because they need to juggle with the whole sentence for understanding the gist.  Paraprosdokians are frequently used for making a funny and dramatic effect, often they produce an anticlimax. Therefore, they are extremely popular among comedians and satirists.  Some paraprosdokians not only change the meaning of an early phrase, but they also give double meaning of a word or a phrase. They create a form of syllepsis. And what is syllepsis? It is a single word that rules or amends two or more parts of a sentence which must be understood differently in respect of the words used in the sentence. Take this one from Albert Einstein: the difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx was an American comedian, writer, stage, film, radio, and television star. He was known as a master of quick wit and is widely considered one of America’s greatest comedians. He was so quick with his wit that people would roll on floor laughing. He4 was famous for using paraprodoskians every now and then. Some of his paraprodoskians are:  “She got her good looks from her father; he’s a plastic surgeon”. “I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book”. “I’ve had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it”.

It is said that the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was an absolute master of paraprodokians.  An example of a Chuchillian paraprosdokian is “There but for the grace of God – goes God.”  Sir Winiston also once famously remarked: “You can always count on the Americans to do the right thing – after they have tried everything else.”  He reportedly described his political rival, Clement Attllee, as “a modest man, who has much to be modest about.”  His sense of humour and wittiness was commendable.

Concerning democracy, Winston Churchill made this well-known declaration: “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried.”  He had some advice too:  “If you are going through hell, keep going.” It is so true and makes common sense. What happens in democracy – a majority passes laws against the interests of minorities; this fact often makes them vicious. The constitutional government has all powers and it gets four to five years in which works to prove its righteousness, all decisions are short-sighted, therefore, democracy doesn’t make great sense. The rule of law, an independent judiciary and the liberty of the citizen regardless of their opinions are crucial. Democracy was and is going through difficult time.

This paraprosdokian comes from Einstein: The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education. And this one comes from Abraham Lincoln:  In the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years. Mae West was an American actress, singer and playwright, this one is from her: Marriage is a great institution, but I’m not ready for an institution.

One needs to love words and needs to be witty to understand paraprodoskians. A person who loves words is called Lexophile. I love this one:  A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail. It is not famous as other forms of figure of speech. It lacks popularity among the literature fans. I love this one: “To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism, but to steal from many is research”.

People who can balance speaking and listening are usually successful in handling relationships and are rarely misunderstood. Each word has a meaning and a value hence they should be used very prudently.  Useless words only create noise. When we use them foolishly, or throwing them aimlessly just to grab someone’s attention we only create a commotion and it really does not help in making a healthy communication. Talk less, listen more is a golden rule for peaceful life.

It is said that despite being the 16th President of the U.S. who was considered as a towering figure Abraham Lincoln believed in using condensed communication, though he was a great communicator and he never offended people. The founder of Virgin Air, Richard Branson believes in talking less and listening more.

Listen to what somebody is saying; listening is a life skill which helps you avoid misunderstanding. Listening is important because it prevents misinterpretation in communication, when you listen carefully it clarifies the message more precisely and can help reduce the amount of frustration for the speaker. Listening is a skill that is required for all types of communication. When somebody is talking, avoid interrupting verbally. Please remember that while we listen we keep giving non-verbal feedback through our facial expressions, our nodding, our humming to the person we are listening to. When pauses occur in the natural flow of the conversation, we get impatient and we feel that it’s our responsibility to instantly fill the void, which is not correct.

To be honest, we don’t really listen to someone when they are talking, instead we are only thinking about what to say next or what we want to talk. We eagerly wait for the person talking to finish. When someone asks a question, do we answer them to the point? A learned and refined person gives very little about himself to the conversation. Whereas, most people forget that words have power, they have energy because they vibrate. So, speaking too much enlarges the power within and it affects our ability to focus. The more we speak the more our mind wanders as a result it becomes increasingly difficult to control our thoughts.

If we look around carefully, we will notice that people who speak less accomplish more; trust me, this is a universal truth. I have seen that successful people are good listeners and judicious speakers. We need to take control of ourselves when the urge to speak comes up. We must stop it, this can be done only with practice. God has given us two ears and one mouth, and we must distribute our energies to use them accordingly; we must listen twice as much as we speak. It is better to keep practicing and keep the ears and mouth ratio in mind.

The people who are the most intelligent are actually the ones you would least expect to be smart. They patiently wait for other people to say what they need to say. They choose to open their ears rather than their mouths. The quietest people are the smartest people. They talk less and have smart brains. These are the introverts. They’re the creative types, the geniuses who get stimulation from learning rather than mingling. They are a bit difficult to get noticed: they prefer to fly under the radar, silently producing the best work and the most incredible art.

Every time you have a conversation with someone, talk for three to five minutes, then allow the other person an equal amount of time to express his/her thoughts. Listen patiently, avoid your strong and inevitable desire to interrupt the person talking.  Rather, develop your skills in asking good questions. Also, avoid the one word answer – the yes, no, uh huh, yeah etc. If you can’t think of anything, consider the possibility that you weren’t listening closely enough and work on improving that skill. Develop the habit of backtracking after you had a conversation with somebody. Recall the kinds of things you just said.  Do you find yourself repeating what you have already said? Could those things you said be phrased another way? Did you overstate your point? Did you hurt somebody unnecessarily? If yes, then it is time you try to find condensed and conciseness in the words you choose. The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent.’

Competent lawyers are the courtroom heroes. Law is an integral part of nearly every area of our life – from the environment, trade, education, medicines, entertainment, marriage, childbirth, sports to death. When things go wrong in society we first think of lawyers. Be it a divorce, stealing, bribery, bankruptcy, IP theft, corporate slip-ups; when fundamentals and practicalities begin to crumble, lawyers swoop in like heroes to protect their clients against the offenders. Taking help of lawyer is a simple instantaneous action, born out of necessity. People call lawyers not because they wantto, but because itnecessitates to.

Can a lawyers’ role be narrowly defined as an antidote to conflict? Are they required only to avoid or manage disputes? The common most notion of a lawyer is – the one who is skilled at finding ‘loopholes’ in the system and help his/her client escape from a sticky situation. But this is our narrow-mindedness if we define their role in such tapered frame. And, we cannot deny that to one up the law one must know the law.

Law is the way society regulates its behavior. It creates rules of conduct that are widely understood and gives us parameters for resolving disputes and defining acceptable codes of conduct. Our centralized, state, and local laws regulate everything from how we do business with each other to how we behave in public places, our duties and responsibilities in society, how we keep our surrounding to where we can park our cars. Because law is considered a technical profession not easily comprehended by the untrained, individuals and companies hire professionals-lawyers-to help them realize it and conduct the procedures it defines. The role of lawyers cannot be limited or underrated. Lawyers have enormous power, which they use daily to effect change for their clients. Without law and order we cannot live peacefully in this world. In some or the other way we permanently depend on lawyers.

Law has been one of the popular career choices for youngsters. Those who come from families of lawyers usually opt to study law. Anyone can choose to study law as long as one has the passion for it. There are many areas of specialization in law these days. Maritime Law, Cyber Law, Business Law, Civil Rights Law, Entertainment Law, Environment Law, Immigration Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property Law, International Law, Labor Law, Taxation Law and many more. I listed just few of them. Today for every action and every activity we find a specialized lawyer. Traditionally, students could specialize in either civil or criminal laws.

People who enter this demanding and comprehensive profession do so for many reasons. It is a great paying career and it is a challenging career which requires lot of research and people skills. If you love it make a career in it. To be precise, lawyers can have a broad range of responsibilities depending on the specific area of law they practice. But if you think being a lawyer mainly involves making speeches and grilling witnesses in a courtroom, think again. Even trial lawyers-those who specialize in courtroom litigation spend surprisingly little time before a judge or jury. For every hour in the courtroom, many more are spent doing research, conducting interviews, or writing documents in preparation for proceedings. Many lawyers, in fact, never set foot in court. They work in the back office.

In broad terms, lawyers apply their interpretation of the law (the codified rules of their society) to advise their employer or client on completing transactions in compliance with the law or resolving disputes based on current understanding of the law. At its most basic level, a lawyer’s role is that of a supporter and adviser. Attorneys use specialized knowledge to research and interpret the intent of the law and apply it to whatever circumstances their clients face. It’s an imperfect practice, as the interpretations of the law may vary significantly based on the circumstances of the situation.

The legal profession can be divided into two major categories: litigation and transactions. Litigation, which concerns both civil and criminal law, is the process of arguing a dispute between two parties. Transactions relate to business and personal matters that usually do not require courtroom argumentation. For example, a lawyer may counsel a client in the transactions of preparing a will, contract, or lease; to help secure venture capital for a new company; or to prepare a patent for a new technology. However, if the will is contested or if the venture capitalists sue the business owner for fraud, that would then require an attorney with litigation skill.

Depending on the type of law they practice, lawyers will spend their time on paperwork; researching, preparing for, or participating in trials and advising clients. They spend hours in law libraries, online databases, and case studies for researching legal precedents. They prepare contracts, to the point note, and other documents, assembling boilerplate paragraphs (it is the sections of code that have to be included in many places with little or no alteration) or writing from scratch. They need a sharp mind, sharp focus and razor-sharp communication skills. Humor and wit is an added advantage as it can lighten the courtroom atmosphere.

They plan and conduct depositions or interviews with witnesses. In complicated cases, these can generate thousands of pages of testimony-all of which have to be read, analyzed, and refined into usable information. They present their evidence-the information they’ve gathered about a case and about the laws relevant to a case-in a court of law, arguing before a judge and/or jury. Alternatively, they may present their research findings to clients, advising them on business or other issues.

If you want to make a splendid career in law, you need to sharpen your analytical ability, attention to detail, logical reasoning, persuasiveness, sound judgment and of course writing ability.  I want to list here one of the most essential element for the career and that is of emotional intelligence. They need to empathies with their clients, they need to respect and honor their colleagues, and most important they need to be good listeners.  Impassive, unemotional and detached lawyers are never in demand. The market does not want a lawyer who is only half a person. They also need to be tech savvy and good in time management.

If you are interested in making a career in law – you can either do a three-year law course after graduation in any discipline or a 5 years’ course after 12th class. In fact, the 3 years’ course is now giving way to the 5 years’ one which is seen as a better option. In most cases, colleges run the 3 years’ course only for those whose main discipline in graduation is something other than law, or working professionals who want to do an LLB as an additional qualification. The five year course is meant for those who want to take up law as a career – be it as a litigator, or any other kind of legal professional. For the five years course the national law entrance exam, CLAT (Combined Law Admission Test) which basically tests the student’s general English, legal aptitude, general awareness, logical skills, etc needs to be cleared.

The LLB course is regulated by the Bar Council of India which sets rules and regulations regarding legal practice in the country. Any specialization is done at masters, M. Phil or PhD stage. A higher degree helps candidates in their career advancement. It is an honorable career.

Our nation needs competent and efficient lawyers for enhanced law and order. People like Mahtma Gandhi, Dr. Amedkar, Lokmanya Tilak, Abraham Lincoln, and Nelson Mandela were some great people who had donned the Lawyer’s coat sometimes in life.