What does it mean to state that something is “barely legal”? Elaborating on the manifold meaning of “bare”, the text develops a literal understanding of the expression, dressing it down to its bare bones, its “Wortskelett”. In doing so, it demonstrates why (legal) hermeneutics itself might also be called barely legal, albeit in another, perhaps more common sense, as it does not merely follow an already well-established, pre-prescribed rule.