[blml] Law 27

[Peter Eidt]

From: Eric Landau 
> > Law 27 – INSUFFICIENT BID
[snip]
> > 1. (b) if, except as in (a), the insufficient bid is corrected with
a
> > legal call that in the Director’s opinion has the same meaning* 
> > as, or a more precise meaning* than, the insufficient bid (such
> > meaning being fully contained within the possible meanings
> > of the insufficient bid) the auction proceeds without further
> > rectification, but see D following.
[snip]
> > 
> > [footnote:  * the meaning of (information available from) a call is
> > the knowledge of what it shows and what it excludes. ]
> > 
> 
> What have we here?
> 
> Two substantive changes:  First, [...]
> 
> But we also have a change in the language of the new criterion.
> "Incorporates the information" admittedly caused considerable
> confusion.  Many, even on BLML, where parsing bridge law is what we
> do, mistook the incorporation of the information from a call for the
> the incorporation of the definition of a call, which works
> oppositely, and so attempted to apply the criterion backwards; we've
> seen several posters getting this wrong, and several others offering
> gentle corrections.  But confusing as it may have been, that
> confusion could be put to rest with a dictionary and a grammar.  Now
> we have "has a more precise meaning than".  But the "meaning" of
> something can refer to *either* its information content *or* its
> definition -- and "more precise", like "incorporates", works in
> opposite directions depending on whether it refers to information or
> definition.

eh (?), did you realize and read the footnote ?
 
> We have replaced confusing language, which meant one thing but could
> too easily be read to mean the opposite with genuinely ambiguous
> language, which could mean either.  Not well done, not at all.