This edition of leagle-ese is my attempt to correct what I see as the biggest humbug-inducer of the holiday gift-giving season: Gift Cards.

Oh, I know the arguments we use to justify giving those little pieces of plastic: “He/she is so hard to shop for”… “he/she knows what he/she likes better than I do”… “I don't have time/don't know him/her well enough to pick out something personally”… etc. etc.

Stop. Just stop. I know your intentions are good, but look at it from the recipient's perspective.

At best, they get to go shopping at a store of your choosing, then they have to spend money out of their own pocket in order to get the full value of your gift. They're never going to hit that $25 limit on the nose – so then they have to either spend more or leave some value unspent. Who's getting the gift in that instance? That's right, the store.

At worst, the card gets lost in the sea of wrapping paper and post-holiday clutter, and d...