Ronny Richardson tells the tale, which begins with this e-mail to the Walmart.com Help Desk:
I sent a money gram to Cameroon. The local clerk said they could deliver to Yaounde Cameroon and the person I was sending it to could pick up the money at the local Walmart. As far as I can tell, there is no Walmart in Yaounde. Where would they go to pick up the money?
He received this response, which I’ve edited for length:
Qualifiers are for lawyers, not writers.
“In the absence of exogenous factors it’s generally true that 2 + 2 = 4. Notwithstanding the above, accepted mathematics applies except when unforeseen circumstances lead to different conclusions,” is, to be charitable, ungraceful.
When accuracy and good writing collide, though, accuracy should win. It didn’t in last week’s column on ITIL and The Cloud. I erred on the side of good writing, leaving out a necessary qualifier.
