The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
Footnotes and Exile
An e-mail exchange in Russian just reminded me on this: In Russian, "a reference in a footnote" and "internal exile" (often as a form of criminal punishment) are the same word, ссылка (ssylka). Odd but true.
Or maybe not so odd, given the root "send"; the footnote sends you to another source, the exile to another city. So remember: Footnotes are the Siberia of your article or your brief—and endnotes, I suppose, the Kamchatka (the peninsula, not the vodka).
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