Last week I was reading about how The Local Government Association (LGA) has banned a list of words and phrases in the interests of 'effective communication'. Here's the list.
Now I'm all for cutting through the jargon and demystifying things. I have my pet hates when it comes to certain cliches. And I like to think that brevity is my middle name.
But is the word-cleansing promoted by the advocates of 'plain English' the right response?
It's very easy to poke fun at some of the phrases on this list and wonder at their usage - 'horizon scanning' or 'predictors of beaconicity', for example. But are council workers really supposed to stop using words like 'guidelines' or 'priority'?
I have two major issues with 'plain English' prescriptions of this kind.
Firstly, there are no 'good' and 'bad' words when it comes to communicating effectively, in the same way that there are no 'good' and 'bad' foods when it comes to maintaining a balanced diet.
It depends on the context, the participants in the conversation and the intentions of the speaker. Jargon evolves naturally and is not evil in itself, nor are cliches.
The harm occurs when people use language as a weapon of exclusion or obfuscation, without regard to whether or not the message will be understood.
Secondly, simplifying language doesn't necessarily improve its comprehensibility. The reason cliches spread like wildfire is because they are so easily and quickly understood.
And word-choice isn't just a matter of stating facts. Individual words or phrases are loaded with additional meaning, particularly when spoken, which is all part of the communication process.
It might have useful if the LGA could have produced a document spelling out the importance of appropriate word choice, style in context and some illustrations of the effects of inappropriate jargon and how it alienates people or disguises the truth.
But that would probably have required too much effort and relied too much on the judgement of the individual to interpret.
Far easier to produce a list of yet more black and white 'rules' so that everyone now knows how to communicate effectively, and their performance can be measured (rather than 'benchmarked') on an appraisal ticklist. Let's eliminate all jargon, cliches, pet phrases, quirks, creativity, spontaneity and personality, so everyone talks and writes the same. Sorted!
(Photo credit: swcp630)
