A surprisingly common legal concept, it turns out: "Severe or persuasive" and "severe and persuasive" appear nearly 100 times in Westlaw-searchable cases, and my quick glance at some originals suggests that this isn't just a Westlaw glitch.

The actual legal phrase, of course, is "severe or pervasive," which is what speech or conduct must be in order to create a "hostile, abusive, or offensive work [or educational] environment." "Severe or persuasive," though passes the spell-checkers and the casual eyeballing.