minyin, wanting to create a personalised rubber stamp for use at the hospital, (with which to certify documents, that is.) asked me for help with the wording. i suggested "copy certified true by dr minyin goh" rather than the more traditional "i hereby certify this to be a true copy of the original" which some of her colleagues use, because it saved on letters. su-lin promises to ask her brother, who is a lawyer, what the proper wording ought to be, but in the meantime i thought this one that a certain colleague of hers used absolutely beats the lot:

"certified true copy: original sighted by me on dd/mm/yy/"

i can hardly get that image out of my mind. i mean, what, they carry stethoscopes, not telescopes. but perhaps this one was a ship's doctor.