And/or

Alternatives

Two alternatives have been proposed. The first, when used for just two items, is to replace "x and/or y" with "x or y or both." The second is to simply choose which of and or or to use.

Mutual exclusivity

The word or does not entail mutual exclusivity by itself. The word either can be used to convey mutual exclusivity. "When using either as a conjunction, [it can be applied] to more than two elements in a series." Thus,

appropriately indicates that the choices are mutually exclusive. If the function of or is clear from the context, it is not necessary to use either as a conjunction:

Person 2: What are my choices? Person 1: You may eat cake, pie, or brownies.}}

Criticism {{anchor|Critic}}

References on English usage strongly criticize the phrase as "ugly" and "Janus-faced". William Strunk, Jr., and E.B. White, in their classic The Elements of Style–recognized by Time one of the 100 best and most influential non-fiction books written in English since 1923, say and/or is "A device, or shortcut, that damages a sentence and often leads to confusion or ambiguity". Roy H. Copperud, in A Dictionary of Usage and Style, says that the phrase is "Objectionable to many, who regard it as a legalism".

Legal criticism

The phrase has come under criticism in both American and British courts. Judges have called it a "freakish fad", an "accuracy-destroying symbol", and "meaningless". The Kentucky Supreme Court has said it was a "much-condemned conjunctive-disjunctive crutch of sloppy thinkers". Finally, the Florida Supreme Court has denounced the use of "and/or", stating

Other authorities point out that it is usually quite unambiguous and can be the most efficient way to indicate the inclusive or in some contexts. Kenneth Adams, lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Alan S. Kaye, professor of linguistics at California State University, write, "It does, after all, have a specific meaning—X and/or Y means X or Y or both." However, the authors state that it should not be used in language of obligation.

The legal usage authority Bryan A. Garner stated that use of the term is particularly harmful in legal writing because a bad-faith reader of a contract can pick whichever suits them, the and or the or. Courts called on to interpret it have applied a wide variety of standards, with little agreement.

References

References

1. (March 2012). "and, conj.1, adv., and n.1". Oxford University Press.
2. The American Heritage Book of English Usage. [http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/026.html "Grammar: Traditional Rules, Word Order, Agreement, and Case"] {{webarchive. link. (June 18, 2006{{Who). (June 2021 [[bartleby.com]] URL accessed on August 31, 2006.)
3. Fowler, H.W.. (1982). "A dictionary of modern English usage". Clarendon Press.
4. "Good usage versus common usage". [[University of Chicago Press]].
5. Skarda, Erin. (August 16, 2011). "''Elements of Style''". [[Time, Inc.]].
6. (1982). "Elements of Style". Macmillan.
7. [[Jane Straus]], Lester Kaufman & Tom Stern, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7jKpAgAAQBAJ&pg=PR22 ''The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation''] (11th ed.), p. 22.
8. Bryan A., Garner. (2009). "Garner on Language and Writing: Selected Essays and Speeches of Bryan A. Garner". American Bar Association.
9. Megarry, Robert. (2005). "A New Miscellany-at-Law". Hart.
10. In a [[Wisconsin Supreme Court]] opinion from 1935, Justice [[Chester A. Fowler]] referred to it as "that befuddling, nameless thing, that Janus-faced verbal monstrosity, neither word nor phrase, the child of a brain of someone too lazy or too dull to know what he did mean".In the case of Employers Mutual Liability Insurance Co. v. Tollefson, 263 N.W. 376 at 377 (1935).
11. Cochrane v. Fla. E. Coast Rwy. Co., 145 So. 217 (1932). ''See also'' Henry P. Trawick, Jr., Florida Practice & Procedure § 6:7 (2011–2012).
12. Kenneth A. Adams and Alan S. Kaye. (January 23, 2007). "Revisiting the ambiguity of "and" and "or" in legal drafting". [[St. John's Law Review]].
13. [[Bryan A. Garner. Garner, Bryan A.]] "Looking for words to kill? Start with these." ''Student Lawyer'' 35.1 (2006): 12–14. [[American Bar Association]].
14. Roger Shuy. (April 17, 2008). "Legal uses of and/or…or something". [[Language Log]].