Footnotes as Squirrels

In this month's column, Beds tackles footnotes, their uses and abuses in A Criminal Waste of Space: In Defense of Footnotes. This naturally prompts analogies involving squirrels and snakes.

Another use for footnotes is quick reference to problems that didn’t come up in our case but might be expected to come up in similar cases. These footnotes say, “Despite the warning signs, we spent 5 minutes looking for a golf ball there and never saw a snake. But we did see lots of small rodent bones, so if you hit your ball in there, you might want to take a five-iron with you when you go looking for it.”

After providing various reasons for using footnotes, he concludes:

That’s why I use footnotes. They may seem inelegant or awkward to my more talented peers, but they assure that I spend more time thinking about subordinated debentures and less time thinking about subordinate clauses.
So there you have it: Bedsworth on Footnotes. Shortest Treatise Ever Written. Those of you looking for convincing authority have Rylaarsdam and Mikva. Those of you who just looked up and saw that brief is due Thursday . . . have me.
Just a little service I provide.

Fn.4: Donuts? Can take them or ... take them.