God love her, but sometimes Prof. Torts says funny things. Hell, all of our professors say funny things. Today, however, (and yesterday, I'm told, in the other section) she mentioned the "messy duty question" addressed by the Texas Supreme Court in a particular case. Following that came the "murky duty," a slightly less obvious but more troubling variation, in my opinion.
And while I'm on it, I can't let these slips go, either. Prof. Property has been a source of joy, frustration, humor and enlightenment over the past two quarters, and today she made us laugh--though she didn't know why. In reference to restrictive covenants that prohibit parking cars along the street, she mentioned, rhetorically, of course, "the horrors--parking overnight in the neighborhood." Now, eliding 'horrors' into 'whores' isn't that much of a stretch for us immature law students. Nevermind these whores who park overnight in the neighborhood. Not as funny as messy duty, but we laughed. This, from the same professor who brought you: "you can do whatever you want on the land--like pitch a tent."
I've mentioned before how we all still chuckle about the Penal Code, even after a quarter of CrimLaw. Why is it that we all of the sudden revert to pre- and pubescent humor in law school? The homophonic properties of the word 'duty' shouldn't be that funny--but they are. That 'penal' sounds like 'penile' shouldn't make it a source of endless puns--but it does.
My guess is that since the law school environment so much resembles high school and earlier in other respects, our sense of humor goes there as well. Alas, just embrace it. I see a #1 hit in "Messy Duty" by Plan B...