Lawton had gradually been cut out of the loop on legal reviews.

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A dictionary sentence:

-Lawton had gradually been cut out of the loop on legal reviews.

Cut out of the loop means not part of this group. But how does it tie in with 'legal reviews'? Wiki does not have a page for 'legal reviews', so I can't understand it. What does the sentence mean?

Thank you. WB.

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@WBYeats,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_review

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@WBYeats,

"Left out of the loop" is the phrase I'm more familiar with.

Meaning: ignored, not consulted, views not sought.

1 Reply

@McTag,

McTag wrote:

"Left out of the loop" is the phrase I'm more familiar with.

If you are left out of the loop this could be accidental or due to carelessness or inefficiency but being cut out is deliberate.

2 Replies

@WBYeats,

Quote:

What does the sentence mean?

Whatever it was that formerly qualified him for the legal review had been gradually withdrawn

We can suppose conditions were imposed serially, each more restrictive

1 Reply

@dalehileman,

dalehileman wrote:

Quote:
What does the sentence mean?
Whatever it was that formerly qualified him for the legal review had been withdrawn

It doesn't say or imply that. It just says that over a period of time he was gradually told less about legal reviews by his colleagues. We don't know why. When people are cut out of loops it is often because of workplace feuds, office politics, power struggles, etc.

There is no Lawton or, indeed, loop about whom or which we can seek clarification: the sentence quoted is a usage example which is included in the definition of "loop" (noun) in the Oxford Advanced American Dictionary:

Quote:

IDIOMS

(informal)
In the loop: part of a group of people that is dealing with something important

Out of the loop: not part of this group

Examples of usage:

A lot of people want to be in the loop on this operation.
Lawton had gradually been cut out of the loop on legal reviews.

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@contrex,

Or he could somehow have been denied access

Apparently "Legal review" is a somewhat hazy term

https://www.google.ca/#q=define+legal+review

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The legal reviews are just something the dictionary folks made up, a token phrase. It could be widget sales figures, or feline influenza statistics, or someone's wedding plans, or anything.

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@contrex,

My reaction too. So I asked my Better Half, who is much smarter than I, what comes to mind for "legal review," and she replied, "Sounds like the name of a magazine"

"But what if it's not in caps," I asked. "Then it's something entailing a whole lot of work," she concluded

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Maybe it's a law company or a judicial department of government and they make or process or produce reviews of cases. It doesn't matter.

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@contrex,

Or maybe it's a regular meeting of some sort, and as you had suggested to discourage his participation they failed with increasing frequency to notify him

My original assumption assumed a legal review was a proceeding in which a review of some kind was conducted on his behalf but nonetheless they became increasingly reluctant to have him present

As you say, "We don't know why"

But yes I do know what's meant by "loop"

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@contrex,

Quote:

If you are left out of the loop this could be accidental

but probably isn't.

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In business circles, especially in the USA, a legal review can be a document - a report, often in book form, which is a periodical update of changes in the law, recently established precedents, etc, as they affect a business or operation. A professional person or a company might hire a law firm to do them, or they might have their own legal department to prepare them, or they might have subscriptions to review(s) produced by legal publishing companies.

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Thank you~

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@contrex,

"Left out of the loop" is the original phrase and has the charm of alliteration on its side.
"Cut out of the loop" is a rather uglier phrase which I had not previously seen. An unnecessary modern alteration, or a piece of vandalism, depending on your point of view.

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I still think that left out implies both deliberate and inadvertent exclusion whereas cut out is definitely deliberate.

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@McTag,

Quote:

"Left out of the loop" is the original phrase and has the charm of alliteration on its side.

"Cut out of the loop" is a rather uglier phrase which I had not previously seen. An unnecessary modern alteration, or a piece of vandalism, depending on your point of view.

I don't mean to be unkind but really, McTag, why do you offer these ludicrous opinions?

"However, native speakers rarely have accurate perceptions of these differences: ... ." [Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English]

I guess that you can provide sourcing for these contentions.

1 Reply

@JTT,

I've got "an accurate perception of these differences" and that's why I bother to point them out.
What you do with the advice is entirely up to you, but calling it ludicrous says rather more about you than me.

1 Reply

@McTag,

I guess that you can provide sourcing for these contentions.

Quote:

but calling it ludicrous says rather more about you than me.

We shall see, depending how how reliable your sources are.

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@JTT,

If you carry out your usual game of comparing phrases by numbers (I suspect you already have, and that's why you haven't mentioned it) you will learn something that does not support your argument. Although "your argument" seems largely involved in attacking me.
I have tried to be constructive. What useful purpose do you think you serve?

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Lawton had gradually been cut out of the loop on legal reviews.

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