This is the Brunei Street Directory, compiled by my UBD colleague, Kazimierz Becek in 2008. It is a splendid resource that often enables me to find where I am going with no problem.Something I noticed when looking through the book recently was the disclaimers on page 8. The first one might at first glance look a bit surprising:
This set of maps is not an authority on international boundaries.In fact, this reminds us that the internatonal border between Brunei and Sarawak (Malaysia) is still subject to dispute.
Further down on the same page, we find another disclaimer:
The street maps provided were compiled by Kazimierz Bezek, using data believed to be accurate at the time of publication; however, a degree of error is inherent in all maps. The street maps are distributed "AS-IS" without warranties of any kind, either expressed or implied, including but not limited to warranties of suitability for a particular purpose or use. The maps are intended for use only at the published scale.This one seems rather more formulaic. Of course, in the modern world, this kind of disclaimer is essential, and this book is just following the expected practice. But what do such disclaimers really achieve?
We seem to be bombarded with such formulaic disclaimers. Sometimes, they are just background noise. When did you ever read through the full conditions before clicking on 'Agree' when you installed a new piece of software? But at other times, they can get a bit irritating. If, for example, you copy the original message when replying to an email message (which makes sense as it ensures the whole conversation is present in the message), you can end up with multiple copies of the same disclaimer, e.g.
This e-mail (and any attachment) is confidential and may also be privileged. It is intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of ..... etc etc etc.What's the point of all of these words? I'm sure they are necessary for legal reasons, like the warning on a McDonald's coffee cup: "This coffee may be hot", or that on a packet of peanuts: "May contain nuts". (For a discussion of this last one, see Language Log here.) We sometimes seem to be swamped by legalistic, meaningless verbiage.
Fortunately, the disclaimers in the Street Directory are merely background noise, and they do not interfere with the value of the book.
