Stockport Council declares war on jargon
Written by Mark Pack on 7th August 2007 – 12:14 pmThe Liberal Democrat run council in Stockport is trying to eliminate pointless jargon. Dizzy Thinks has the story, whilst I breathe a sigh of relief that I’ve only used one of the phrases on the hit list so far this week 
Tags: dizzy thinks
Posted in News 11 Comments »
7th August 2007 at 1:36 pm
Unfortunately, as someone in the comments has pointed out, they may not have done a good job of it.
7th August 2007 at 1:53 pm
This is an excellent idea. Anything that helps to make Council documents and webpages more accessible to the public can only be a good thing.
It’s very good to see SMBC thinking outside the box and going forward with this idea.
7th August 2007 at 3:08 pm
Nice to see a Lib Dem council pushing the envelope on this one
7th August 2007 at 3:45 pm
I’d say only the last item is an example of jargon- the rest are just management buzz-pharases.
Jagon is technical language for which there is a readily available plain english alternative. (Technical concepts that are more than a couple of words in everyday English are neither Jargon, nor buzzspeak).
Buzzwords are filler phrases that mean little and add nothing to the text. Unlike jargon, they do not render passages incomprehensible to most people, but they do make the writer look unimaginative, sheep like and foolish.
The barriers caused by buzzwords are purely in terms of psychology and paletability.
7th August 2007 at 4:14 pm
…but I rush to add, eliminating buzzwords is still a good thing.
7th August 2007 at 4:15 pm
I’m all for resizing the vocabulary envelope.
7th August 2007 at 4:42 pm
Mark #6: shurely downsizing?
I’ve also blogged about this by the way.
7th August 2007 at 5:13 pm
Who would have guess that such a post would produced a matrix-in response of milestone comments each acting as an enabler to the next huh?
8th August 2007 at 12:33 am
Lib Dem Councillor in Southwark refuses to resign after drink driving conviction incurredd drunkenly from Council function. She is a Cabinet member. Council leader has backed her, but should she resign from the Council or from the Cabinet ?
http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/southlondonpress/southwark/tm_headline=ex-mayoress-banned-for-drink-driving%26method=full%26objectid=19555819%26siteid=50100-name_page.html
8th August 2007 at 1:06 am
Most of these clichéd phrases are managementese, originate in the US (where else?), and I recoil instantly when I encounter them.
The point about jargon having precise technical meaning is well made.
To the layman, a “common mistake” is a mistake made frequently. To a lawyer, it is a mistake made by both parties to a contract.
Used incorrectly, legal jargon can be a menace.
The worst abuses of language are those inspired by ideology.
Like the use of “faith” when “religion” is meant – “faith” carrying the unspoken suggestion that adherence to religion is something virtuous and requiring to be shown “respect”.
One that really does infuriate me is the placing of “lesbians” before “gay men”, the assumption being that men are inherently wicked and should only be tolerated if they refrain from having sex with women. This dates from the days when the lunatic fringe of feminism was indulged by the left, and many gay rights activists were foolhardy enough to find common cause with it.
Oh, and I cannot resist mention of Comrade Enver Hoxha, one of the worst abusers of language ever to live. Here is his list of the enemies of socialist Albania: “The American imperialists, the Soviet and Chinese social imperialists, Titoite, Euro-Communist and other modern revisionists, the international capitalist bourgeoisie and reaction.”
8th August 2007 at 1:44 pm
#9: D&D is perfectly legitimate behaviour in Southwark. After all, it has been sanctioned by the Church of England.
I could say it is an ecumenical matter, but I won’t.