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Boilerplate

It's the stuff waaaaayyyy down there. Take the standard form contract that everyone gets when they buy a washing machine. It says stuff like, uh…don’t throw your cat (or kid) in here. And if you do, that’s on you, pal...not us. Don’t plug a 110-volt line into a 220 volt receptacle. It’d be...shocking. And probably re-volting. If you bang it with a sledgehammer and damage it, well yeah, then that’s on you, too. These machines are here to wash your clothes, not to let you vent your...rage against the machine.

So if you slowly zooooom out and look, you’ll see this language...which is the standard, same language on almost every consumer contract like this...well, it looks like boilerplate. Literally.

Like...Google an actual boilerplate. Yeah. Eerily similar.

So why do we have the term? Well, it just refers to the notion that this set of caveats or warnings is pretty standard and on every contract of similar purchase, in the same way a boilerplate is used to make every boiler.

As for an actual boilerplate…good luck fitting that thing into your washing machine.

Related or Semi-related Video

Finance: What Does "Boilerplate" Mean?1 Views

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finance a la shmoop what does boilerplate mean? way down there here's

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the standard form contract that everyone gets when they buy a washing machine it [Clothes spinning in a washing machine]

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says stuff like don't throw your cat or kid in here and if you do that's on you

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pal not us don't plug a hundred ten volt line into [Person inserts plug into socket and electrocutes themselves]

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a 220 volt receptacle it would be shocking if you did that and probably

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revolting... they don't really get in in boilerplate if you bang it with the

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sledgehammer and damage the washing machine well yeah pal that's on you too [Man hits washing machine with sledge hammer]

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these machines are here to wash your clothes not let you vent your rage you

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know even if it is against the machine so if you slowly zoom out against the

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contract there and look you'll see this language which is the standard same

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language on pretty much every consumer contract like this and well it looks [Stack of contracts appear]

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like boilerplate literally like here is an actual boilerplate and while here's

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the contract and now let's mash them up yeah eerily similar so why do we have

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the term well just refers to the notion that this set of caveats or warnings is

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pretty standard on every contract or similar purchase in the same way a

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boilerplate is used to make you know every boiler yeah as for an actual [Boiler plates appear]

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boilerplate well good luck fitting in that thing into your washing machine

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it'll really ruin it we tried [Man holding boilerplate]

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