Citation

Gutheil TG. J. Am. Acad. Psychiatry Law 2007; 35(1): 112-117.

Affiliation

Department of Psychiatry, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Bosston, MA, USA. gutheiltg@cs.com

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law, Publisher American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

17389354

Abstract

Confronted with a difficult, unexpected, or confrontational question, an expert witness may answer by attempting to overwhelm the questioner with words, sometimes highly evasive ones, that avoid, rather than actually address, the question asked. Such a discursive response is sometimes called a "waffle," as in "The expert's answer was a waffle." This review notes some examples of this phenomenon and attempts to categorize them in a meaningful way. An ancillary goal of this discussion may be to aid experts in focusing their answers.

Language: en