Just recently I gave a workshop to the communications department of one of SA's top companies. Before the course they sent me a sample of their in house publications which I ploughed through - ploughed being the operative word here. Apart from the usual dreaded 'hatched, matched and despatched' there was a collection of jargon second to none. When I went through these with them they were rolling about laughing - but when I told them I took them from their publications they looked a bit surprised. Is it because we've got so used to using these ridiculous expressions in our everyday lives that we don't even notice them anymore? Here's just a sample of some of them.
•deployed – exacerbated – full complement of – interventions – channel contributions – integral – culture of inclusion – sustainable – diversity - inclusion on a global basis – meritocracy – embedded – impacted severely – non-conformances – tasked with – economic imperative.
Can you imagine if we all talked this way. You'd say to your partner 'So darling, do you think we should have a little diversity tonight and have the Jones's around - or maybe we should just stay embedded at home, but this could severely impact on our economic imperatives and lead us to a culture of inclusion - so maybe we should look at something more sustainable...
Doesn't anyone speak English anymore?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
writer1: Marion - as a writer and reviewer of fiction I've come across some strange clauses and combinations of words. Oxymorons are always a problem with me as well as silly little waste-time words that do nothing to enhance a story.
ie., waste time, little big, cold sun, cold heat - there are thousands of them.
But that list of waste-time words is a real eye-opener:
That
A bit / A little / A lot
Highly
Just
Kind of / Sort of
Mostly
Pretty
Quite / Rather / Really
Slightly
So
Somewhat / Something / Thing / Sometime / Somehow
Began to / Started to / Appeared to / Seemed to
Get / got / getting / gotting (lol)
Fairly
You see, we use the above words in everyday life as a part of our language. I usually delete as many of these words as possible from my own writing to make the work stronger.
Post a Comment