ABSTRACT
Libel and slander Libel is when damage is done to a person by making a false written statement, while slander is spoken. To avoid making false statements, people have ways of bending language so that what they suggest or imply is different from the literal truth of the words they have used. All humans do this; we hardly ever mean the exact
literal translation of what we say. Think of loaded statements like “Oh, I see you’ve left the bath mat on the floor again”, which is not the simple observation it seems.
