2. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF "BILKED": The transitive verb "bilk" dates back to 1651 (Oxf. Eng. Dict., Second Edn., 1992) and originally meant "to balk or spoil any one's score" in the game of cribbage. Oxford's definition #3, "to cheat, defraud; to evade payment of (a debt)," seems to have quickly developed from the original meaning, as in Locke's 1672 use: "A man that had bilked one of the most considerable men of the place." This brings us to the usage at issue.

     3. MODERN SENSE: In linguistics and lexicography, we study meaning at roughly three levels (or registers) of usage: (a) formal, as in a Throne Speech; (b) informal (written) or colloquial (spoken), as in the mass media; (c) slang, as in everyday uninhibited speech and writing. This three-fold distinction is not very clear-cut. Many desk dictionaries (as Cdn. Oxf. Dict., 1998) conveniently label "bilk" as "Informal." Others leave it unlabelled as a matter of policy.

     However, evidence shows "bilk" is more slang than informal. The best slang dictionaries of our time (Eric Partridge, London, 1937, and J. E. Lighter, New York, 1994), provide citations that are quite apropos of the points I wish to make.

     4. CITATIONS, three of many I have studied (all underscores mine):

     (a) "Ay, a great lawyer ... bilked me too" (Lighter, 1677 quote from Wycherley, Plain Dealer, V, iii).

     (b) "Bilking a coachman, a box keeper, or a poor whore, was formerly among men of the town thought a gallant action" (Partridge, 1750 quote from Grose's Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue).

     (c) "Health and Long-Term Care estimates that medical quackery bilks consumers out of at least $10 billion each year" (Redbook, Oct. 1990, p. 54).

     5. CONCLUSIONS:

     (a) The article in question, conforming to the nature of the journal, is written in a literary style aimed at the writers, editors, publishers, etc. of the Canadian magazine industry. There is, of course, more to style than vocabulary. The point here is, an informal or slang usage of a word is more casual and uninhibited, hence likely to be truer in regard to the intended meaning than a formal usage which is deliberate and studied, as in a Throne Speech. A Throne Speech is politically inspired and full of promises that a government may or may not be able to keep. The idea is to bilk the public, as anyone may say without fear of libel because it is such a widely accepted truth.

     If the writer had said "defrauded" instead of "bilked," that might have sounded like a serious, willful, and formal indictment.

     (b) I believe, therefore, the writer of the article, in using the word "bilked," was expressing himself artlessly, telling what he believed to be the truth, exactly as he saw it. There is hardly any sarcastic use of words in the article, no tongue-in-cheek references. The writer is merely cataloguing in a dry, descriptive, matter-of-fact manner the dozen or so instances of Zadeh's alleged failure to meet his obligations. It is balanced and fair reporting.

     (c) People in certain professions and occupations tend to be attacked for their alleged lack of honesty and integrity more than others, politicians for example. A few days back, our prime minister The Right Hon. Jean Chrétien was referred to in Canada's national newspaper as "a veteran leader as wily as Mr. Chrétien...." (Globe & Mail editorial, May 10, 2003, p. A22).

     As everyone knows, "wily" is used of foxes, coyotes, ethnic types the writer does not like, Saddam Hussein, Ronald Reagan, and other personae non gratae. Is our prime minister likely to sue the Globe & Mail for defamation of character? I doubt it because, for a prime minister, to be called "a wily politician" comes with the territory.

     Members of "the oldest profession" have been similarly vilified because, although they perform a much-needed service to mankind, their work is frowned upon by society. But is a "lady of the evening" going to sue someone who publicly refers to her by any of the hundreds of synonyms for "prostitute" from A to Z?

     Lawyers have been similarly treated for ages. But is the lawyer referred to in 4(a) likely to consider himself slandered? I doubt it. If the story went that the lawyer habitually bilked his clients so that his livelihood seemed threatened by the exposé, there might have been cause for action.

     The point here is that our publisher-entrepreneur, regardless of the profession he is in, who has a dozen actions for alleged fraud possible or pending, clearly falls into a class or group that may be called "the deadbeat club." The publicity he is receiving may be said to come with the territory.

     Legal issues apart, on the linguistic front, I have no hesitation in saying that the offending quotation, studied in its full context, merely seems to imply that Mr. Zadeh, playing against 12 opponents, has lost a game like cribbage in fair play.