Loophole

A loophole is a way to avoid doing something that you know you should do… or finding an alternative way to achieve what you want. If you find a weakness (hole) in a system or an exception, you have found a loophole. It is often used with law, politics and paying taxes.

1. In the above comic strip, the loophole for Calvin is, “In your own words”. He doesn’t know the answer, but technically he is writing in his own words (in an unknown language).

2. In the United States, married couples sometimes find themselves paying more taxes than an unmarried couple with the same income. In order to avoid paying additional taxes (marriage penalty), some couples discovered a tax loophole: If the couple could get a quick legal divorce in a foreign country by December 31st, they would be considered single. The couple could then remarry legally in the United States during the following year and repeat the process.

3. If a hacker can find a loophole (weakness) in a firewall or a server security he can gain access to any company or system. This has recently happened with the Pentagon, Sony Corporation and NASA.

4. If you are using pirated software or a trial version, generally you need a software “crack”, which is a file that exploits the loophole in a program so that you don’t need to buy the software to continue using it. What do you think of pirated software?

5. At everydayloopholes.com you can find loopholes to get around (avoid) everyday rules.