Articles on language

'Well now, I know what a key is and I know what a driver is, but neither piece of knowledge is much use here. The phrase "key driver" is a dead metaphor. More significantly it derives from the world of corporate jargon, which suggests that you think of yourself as a corporation. You are not a corporation. You are a public service. Indeed you are actually my servants. I am paying you to do a job for me. So rather than using the jargon that corporations use to cloud the truth, I'd prefer you to tell me the truth.' Joe Bennett, 'Dear Council, try saying sorry and dump the propaganda', The Southland Times, 28 July 2010

'The fire service today lives in a world of ‘blue horizon scanning', ‘windows of opportunities', and ‘mission critical tasking' – a world where all of us are told ‘you're not qualified to have an opinion, you must leave it to the experts'.' Peter Hope, of Hereford and Worcester Fire Brigades Union, 'Drop jargon and speak in language we understand!', Worcester News, 23 July 2010.

'It took just five minutes of Julia Gillard's opening speech of the election for Don Watson to switch off and lose all interest in Labor's campaign ... Mr Watson said that slogan [moving forward] was nothing more than a ''lump of dead meat'' ripped straight from the corporate world and its constant repetition was patronising to everyone listening.' Sydney Morning Herald, 19 July 2010.

'In the war logs they are labelled simply "green on green". But "green" is the military 's jargon for Afghan or "host nation" armed forces, and the accounts of more than 50 incidents where local troops opened fire on their comrades paint a vivid picture of the lawless quality of life in the country.' The Guardian, 25 July 2010

'Everyone has a good time, they enjoy their ropes experience, their climbing or their go-carting but it doesn't translate back to the workplace. Back in the work scene, the old patterns emerge, the old communication styles emerge. The same way of dealing with people stays.'
Dr Darryl Cross of Crossways Consulting, 'Corporate bonding events a "waste of time"', Caitlin O'Toole, news.com.au, 1 July 2010. And a comment on this article:
'The team leaders dressed up as the Wiggles. We played Wiggles games all day. Felt like I was in a pre-school, not an office. The only thing this achieved for me was losing all respect for my boss.'

'Instilling in law a wider sense of duty on the part of directors seems like a step in the right direction. It may not, in itself, ensure the success of Sants' ethical and cultural crusade. But it might let everybody see clearly that "shareholder value" is a piece of management jargon.' 'Hector Sants' good idea. The FSA's chief executive is right to want to enshrine in law that company directors think about more than shareholder value'. Nils Pratley, guardian.co.uk 17 June 2010.

'The list might include, proposed Nigel Hawkes writing in the British Medical Journal recently, "stakeholder" (as in "a comprehensive mapping exercise of local stakeholders"), which, he observes, tends to apply to those who have no stake other than bearing a banner saying "listen to me". "Committed" and "deliver" are similarly expendable, as in the hospital trust that aspires to being "fully committed to equip its staff with the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to improve and deliver services".' 'Meaningless NHS jargon has got to go', James Le Fanu, Telegraph.co.uk, 31 May 2010.

'The language of commerce has now fully cemented itself in our vernacular, functioning the way sports, military, mafia and street slang has in the past: as a shorthand for when we're too unimaginative or lazy to come up with original sentences. In our business-and money-obsessed society, we've all become fluent in corporate-speak — even those of us who have never set foot in a boardroom or strategy meeting. Just call it synergy.' Teddy Wayne on the Speakeasy blog.

'The government is also accused of ''the worst traditions of management-speak'' by using timid words such as ''relocation'' instead of the stronger ''evacuation'', and for creating terms such as ''Neighbourhood Safer Places - Places of Last Resort'', which are better called ''shelters''.' Bushfire commission lashes government 'failures', by Michael Bachelard, The Sunday Age, 23 May, 2010.

China vice president calls for reducing jargon use. AAP

'... a new phrase. Fabrice's assertions that he must try harder to be a "firm culture carrier". I predict this will take off. It suggests that one can carry the Goldman culture in the same way one can carry a sexually transmitted disease.' 'Fabulous Fab is more frightening than you think', Lucy Kellaway, UK Financial Times, 3 May 2010.

'Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the leader of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was shown a PowerPoint slide in Kabul last summer that was meant to portray the complexity of American military strategy, but looked more like a bowl of spaghetti. “When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war,” General McChrystal dryly remarked, one of his advisers recalled, as the room erupted in laughter.' 'We Have Met the Enemy and He Is PowerPoint', by Elisabeth Bumiller, 26 April, The New York Times. From Mark Colvin from the ABC via George O'Farrell.

'“It's the nature of government business,” said Biaggi. “Governments need good solid legal language they can enforce, but sometimes this creates unclarity for the lay reader.”' Tahoe Regional Planning Agency wants to simplify its wealth of jargon, by Matthew Renda, North Lake Tahoe Bonanza, 10 April 2010.

'Writing in a recent blog, Almonte, Ont. parent Chantal Hubert cited an oxymoronic line in her daughter Erin's first grade report card recommending that she "continue to develop communication ability using simple language." ' 'Schools expel report card jargon through pilot program', The Globe and Mail, 6 March, 2010.

'Florence Eavis from Holiday Inn said that they believe that getting rid of pointless jargon will help people concentrate longer in meetings. Thus, they are asking their guests to simply speak plain English. Holiday Inn is also offering more tips at their website.' ' New Anti-Jargon Campaign Launched by Holiday Inn' by Sharon Miller, Self-Catering-Breaks News, 10 March, 2010.

'Why do we have to have a "webinar trialogue for the wellderly" when the public sector could just "talk about caring for the elderly" instead?' LGA Chairman Margaret Eaton, UK councils ordered to quit the jargon. CNN, 11 March, 2010.

'Our culture's unquestioning belief in the power of words may be turning into a blinding fundamentalism: ''Words will save us.'' To deal with the bushfire problem, a new set of words such as ''catastrophic'' has been strategically positioned to help protect the population, but close to sweet nothing has been done by government to create a standard domestic fire bunker ... I fancy that echolalia could well refer to a condition in modern media and their captive communities. Like the compulsive rocking back and forth of the radically distressed, echolalia could be a name for the repetitious, unstoppable going around and around of dead or dying ideas in the culture; the boring babble and banging on in the vortex of tribal media chatter.' Michael Leunig, 'Dead lemon tree syndrome', The Age, 13 Feb 2010.

'"Thinking outside the box" and "Let's touch base" were the most hated buzz phrases among the 1,836 people surveyed by Opinium research.' 'Does "thinking outside the box" drive you mad?' Reuters, 10 February. Thanks to Courtenay Rule.

'Workers choosing a cheaper lunch are said to be having a "credit munch", while businesses are bringing in "chainsaw consultants" to reduce the workforce. The fear of being "de-cruited" or "uninstalled" – terms for being fired – is enough to give any worker a "bog shaker", meaning a breakdown in the office loo.' Recession causes rise in office jargon, 23 Jan 2010, Telegraph.co.uk

2. The Most Slippery Corporate Euphemism for Job Cuts goes to the Nokia Siemens merger for this abomination: "Synergy-related head count restructuring." ...
4. For ungainly Verb-to-Noun Transmogrification, the winner is learnings, as in what "learnings" have participants taken away from this webinar. Oh, please. 'And the Gag Me Awards go to ...' By Gail Lethbridge, 8 Jan 2010. The ChronicleHerald.ca

'3,700 elephants found in offices last year (along with other meaningless jargon)'
5 January 2010 by Clare Baillie. NEWS.Scotsman.com

'... The constant repetition of the idea of ceaseless change tends to natualise it and turn it into an omnipotent autonomous force that subjects human beings to its will. This is a force that annihilates the past and demands that people learn to adapt and readapt to new experiences. From this standpoint humans do not so much determine their future as adapt to forces beyond their control.' From Frank Furedi's opening lecture at the recent Battle of Ideas conference in London.

'It came into the corporations beginning in the late 1980s as a way of calming people down during layoffs. You send the laid-off people to the out-placement firm, where they get pep talks on changing their attitude. The survivors need motivational speakers so they can do the work of two people.' Barbara Ehrenreich, interviewed on Bloomberg.com about her new book: Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America.

'BELONGING? COMMUNITY? SHARED VALUES? These, surely, have become the weasel words of contemporary social analysis. Overblown and overplayed, they have been robbed of much of their meaning. They have come to sound more like mantras than social goals.' 'Real Communities' by Hugh Mackay, Griffith REVIEW

'Just as the US government rebranded the War on Terror as  The Fight for a Better World  in 2005, so many of us have abandoned the real, truthful yet uncomfortable word  problem, and substituted the blandly depressing  issue  instead. It's the worst type of weasel word.' The issue issue From: Talk Normal by Tim Phillips

'What's comedic about this is that the very evening after the forum, the hit NBC show “30 Rock” poked fun at terms like these. In one particular scene of Thursday's episode, the main character, Liz Lemon, is convincing her boss, Jack Donaghy, to allow their staff to go to Miami. Liz has a poster board that simply reads, “Miami = Synergy,” and she proceeds to say to Jack, “Cross-promotional, deal mechanics, revenue streams, jargon, synergy.”

Jack responds, “That's the best presentation I've ever seen. Get started right away.”' Trendy jargon may dazzle, but plain English is better, Purdue Exponent, 25 Jan 2010

'Big words don't equal a bigger brain. It has been said that intelligent people who are confident in their message and passionate about what they do don't need obscure language to communicate. In fact, studies have shown that professional communication filled with jargon comes across as rude, disingenuous or obnoxious while clearly expressed messages are perceived as energetic, truthful and friendly.' 'Buzz off, and leave jargon out of communications' by John McFerran. 16 Jan 2010. Winnipeg Free Press.

'Sebastian, the Ragan Communications editor, jokes that you'd never say: ''Hi honey, you really thought outside the box with that dinner -- those deliverables with the fresh vegetables were outstanding.'' So why talk that way in the office?' 'Workplace Lingo: The Good and Bad of Office Jargon'. Associated Press, 11 Jan 2010