Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
200 words that the council should stop using
The Local Government Association has released a list of 200 words which they say councils should not use.
The group says that councils should ban the use of words on the list of local govenment jargon if they want to communicate effectively with local people.
Words and phrases on the list include:
* taxonomy
* re-baselining
* mainstreaming
* holistic governance
* contestability
* synergies
and my favourite: predictors of beaconicity (which made Charlotte Green on the Today programme laugh while she was saying it)
The full list with translations into plain English can be seen
here
Read some LG reactions here
What's your least favourite bit of council speak? I always feel a slight annoyance at service users and one not on the list...public realm.
The group says that councils should ban the use of words on the list of local govenment jargon if they want to communicate effectively with local people.
Words and phrases on the list include:
* taxonomy
* re-baselining
* mainstreaming
* holistic governance
* contestability
* synergies
and my favourite: predictors of beaconicity (which made Charlotte Green on the Today programme laugh while she was saying it)
The full list with translations into plain English can be seen
here
Read some LG reactions here
What's your least favourite bit of council speak? I always feel a slight annoyance at service users and one not on the list...public realm.
Tags for Forum Posts: plain English
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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not forgetting that splendid bit of doublespeak, slippage er, you mean delayed
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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One of the words I was pleased to see on the list is "Holistic".
It has nice, warm new-age connotations. Haringey used this meaningless term repeatedly in their PR/spin when describing how nice and beneficial it would be to sell off our Charity's main asset, Alexandra Palace.
A one-sided lease, or great benefit to the council's favoured property developer (Firoka) was time and again described as a "Holistic" Lease for a "holistic" development. What it meant was that the whole of our Palace was to be given lock, stock and barrel to a favoured developer. Fortunately, the whole Lease was quashed by the High Court and it ended up down the plug hole.
I hope that our council will stop using this wretched word that is devoid of content and where it has been used in the past, it has been used with an intention to deceive.
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Permalink Reply by Old-Age-Emporium(OAE) on
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Just confining myself to the A's, I would ban ACCESS (verb & noun) and AROUND (instead of 'about' or 'of') from all discourse, not just local govt. prattle. 'Questions/issues/problems AROUND language/litter/literacy/lawfulness/lifestyle/lapdancing ...' are just expressions of vagueness which have invaded all our discussions, presentations and thought-streams like japanese knotweed. 'About' usually gets to the hub or nub of the matter rather than faffing around the periphery (=rim).
OK, I'll allow 'Wheelchair/Disabled ACCESS' if really necessary, but all other use of it (Vb or N) is banned.
As for the LGA fatwah, this is a very odd list of 'plain English' replacements for l.g. jargon. Clearly the 'work' of a haphazard 'working party' lolling around over coffee with one copy of 'My First School Dictionary' and diminishing enthusiasm at the fag-end of a 'training day'. Their chairperson is clearly a mad ex-monk who insists on core values and principles becoming 'beliefs' based on 'all singing from the same hymn sheet'. None of them ever heard of Archimedes re-inventing the lever and saying, 'Give me a fulcrum and I'll move the world.' They must reduce it to 'pivot', then fail to find a replacement for 'lever' before lamely suggesting 'tools for the job' for 'leverage'.
And it's full of contradictions. While elevating that same damned hymn sheet, they draw a blank for that level playing field. They outlaw blue sky and outside the box thinking but don't even mention those ball park ideas - and presumably we can still go on pushing that bloody envelope as we step up to the plate. But surely it was that sex-mad ex-monk chairman who reduced that beautiful adjective 'consensual' to "everyone agrees". Orgies on his mind!
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Ooh I'm with you on 'around' OAE - I come across it alot at work and it drives me crazy.
Personally I'd ban 'females' when they mean women or 'males' when they mean men. I know sometimes they are handy when you are talking about women and girls, say - but most of the time it gets used for no good reason and just sounds horribly wrong.
Looking at the list, there is a lot I agree with. But some is just daft. I don't particularly like the term 'capacity building' - but surely it doesn't translate into 'enough room in the system' does it?
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Well I think we should put the whole lot on the back burner for now and reach out to some local strategic stakeholders.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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Thanks to this, I think I now know what "stakeholder" means. Nothing to do with a vampire-killer's assistant, it seems to mean a person with an interest in.. .
Oh no, it means "other organisations". So is NASA a stakeholder in Haringey Council ?
I'm confused - not for the first time.
And "advocate" does not mean "support"
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John, I'm prepared to hold the stake above the black heart of Haringey Double-Speak and murder-of-English, if you're prepared to wield the hammer!
And the next thing Haringey could do, would be to employ staff who have good diction. I'm not talking about RP/BBC, just the ability to enunciate words clearly, either on the phone or across a desk. And not necessarily all jobs within the council, but certainly in those jobs that involve dealing with the public ("front line" or "outward facing"). I ask this in the name of clear, unambiguous communication.
- a Stakeholder in clear English
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I'm not sure really. I don't know quite what it is about the phrase that bugs me. I suppose in the warm and fuzzy world of education we just had the obvious: students, parents, carers, kids, mums and dads. Depends on who is using the service I suppose.
I loathe customers or clients when talking about community stuff. Tesco doesn't include me in their planning, I don't have an emotional investment in their shops and they have one aim in mind which is to make me part with money in exchange for goods. So I'm a customer. But when I talk about places that I care about like my streets, parks, schools I don't want it to feel like an umemotional transaction.
I think the point here is perhaps that this jargon just feels tired, devoid of meaning and betrays a lack of ideas. As with any 'in language' (and education is full of it, I admit despite my earlier comment), it feels elitist and exclusive, them and us.
If the government is serious about promoting an 'active citizen democracy' and devolving power into local hands, they are going to have consider things like language and the use of jargon, presentation and methods of consultation. At the moment, people feel outside the processes.
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Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
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Visitors?
I suppose there's nothing wrong with "Service users" when you are using it in an abstract, third party sense.
But I don't think any one likes to be referred to as a "service user."
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I was with some (GLA) friends at a cafe when one of them told us that his department boss had tasked him to come up with a less aggressive sounding and more politically correct phrase than 'Brainstorming Session'.
He asked us if we could put our heads together and come up with something. After a few minutes i suddenly realised the irony. You can't make these things up you know.
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Permalink Reply by Sapphireblue on
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yes we were told years ago that 'brainstorming' was not pc as it could cause offence to epileptics! oh, please............. cant remember what the substitute word was.....
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