Gobbledygook banned by English and Welsh local authorities

Valerie Conyngham points us to a fascinating story.

The Local Government Association (LGA), an association of English and Welsh local authorities representing over 50 million people, has told local government officials to ditch meaningless jargon.

According to an article in The Telegraph, the LGA has sent a list to Town Halls of 100 words and phrases that should be avoided. The list includes "empowerment," "synergies," "revenue stream," "sustainable communities," and "stakeholders."

Sir Simon Milton, the LGA's chairman, said: "The public sector can not, must not and should not hide behind impenetrable jargon and phrases. Why do we have to have 'coterminous, stakeholder engagement' when we could just 'talk to people' instead?"

Go Sir Simon!

There's more…

"Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax they pay. Without explaining what a council does in proper English then local people will fail to understand its relevance to them or why they should bother to turn out and vote. Unless information is given to people to explain why their council matters then local democracy will be threatened with extinction."

Right on! This is great. And true for all companies, nonprofits, and government agencies.

Eliminate gobbledygook (like the LGA) and your organization will reach more buyers and be more successful.

Comments

[David Linke]

There was a great book written and published in Australia by Don Watson, a past speech writer for the Australian Prime Minister, called Death Sentence.

Death Sentence is a fantastic short read about how corporations, governments and the community use language to "weasel" out actually saying anything.

It is worth the read

[David Meerman Scott]

Hi David L,

Sounds like a good read. I'll pick on up.

David S

[Eero Brillantes]

Politics of survival dictates the dictum "if you cannot convince them, confuse them". Sad but true.

Whenever I give lectures on political or governance communication I always start with the quip "people could not care a rat's ass what politicians want to say. What registers is the relevance of what people want to hear from the politicians".

Its a little bit crass but the point being to properly communicate governance is not to talk alien. Connection, empathy, understanding are operative terms needed to make the world a better place.

Otherwise that Robin Williams line applies: Politicians are like diapers. They need to be replaced often coz their bound to be full of shit. Or something along that line.

Eero Brillantes
www.mindbullet,org
www.brainbang-mindbullet.blogspot.com

[Susan Muegge]

Love this. After teaching technical writing then re-entering the marketing field, I have seen so many instances of gobbledygook it's unbelievable.

What gets me is when people ask for the opaque language because they think it makes them look smarter. If you ask me, the writer who can be concise and express a complex idea in a way that allows anyone and everyone to understand it is far more skillful than the one who is dependent upon terms like impactful and cutting edge strategic mindshare policy.

[Judy Peterson]

We have lots of acronyms in Real Estate and other jargon that doesn't enlighten the consumer. A good reminder to be on the look out for such confusions. Just browsed your ebooks and ordered your new "New Rules" at Amazon. Found you at Website Grader - a great tool to help us neophytes. Thanks!

[Tajiana]

This is a great post. The Dutch side of St. Maarten is currently seeking independence from the Netherlands Antilles and could really use a lesson from your book and the LGA. The island is currently working on a constitution and hosting various public forums and public speaking engagements to inform and get the locals involved. Sadly, most St. Maarteners are overwhelmed with the process and choose not to participate because they are bombarded with gobbledygook from politicians and lawyers.

[Jacqueline @ Redpig]

That's where I'm moving! Thank goodness someone thought to hold their local government responsible to their words and actions.

Synergies...

[Shannon @ SuckyFish]

So true. It's absurd though how meaningless phrases become part of our lexicon but still have little value. If I have to hear one more person talk to me about "ideating" like it's a real thing my head will explode.

[Kevin Grossman]

Thanks, David! We have to constantly hound clients to kill the jargon. Latest "asynchronous communication" - ghastly nonsense.

[Reseller Hosting]

thanks man..check it.Video technology was first developed for cathode ray tube television systems, but several new technologies for video display devices have since been invented. Standards for television sets and computer monitors have tended to evolve independently, but advances in computer performance and digital television broadcasting and recording are producing some convergence.

http://www.biggest-hosting.com