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Jargon and the economic recession
According to the UK’s Local Government Association (LGA), ditching jargon can “help people during the recession”. I propose that ditching jargon can help people almost any time, anywhere, and that...
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When I find myself in terms of trouble
The complex (or compound) preposition “in terms of” is much censured – sometimes with good reason, sometimes not. In this post I’ll examine some of the ways the phrase is used and some of the criticism...
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Your cooperation in reading this blog post is requested
This sign stands in Kennedy Park, Eyre Square, Galway. As I passed, it cried out to be criticised, and who am I to yield right of wail? First: Why write “The playing of football” instead of simply...
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Plain English and Golden Bulls
Yesterday the Plain English Campaign announced the winners of its Golden Bull awards 2009, a dubious honour given to individuals and companies who have unleashed the best gobbledegook upon an...
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Houston, we’ve had a probletunity, going forward
Management jargon and political gobbledegook exert a perverse pull on my attention, despite their often deadening inanity. At its best, this vacuous form of verbiage demands a dubious but undeniable...
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Critical learnings: a competition
There’s a competition that might interest you on Macmillan Dictionary Blog today. I’ve written a parody of corporate communication laced with buzzwords, management jargon, ridiculous metaphors and...
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Weasel words and skunked words
Time for a recap of my recent writing at Macmillan Dictionary Blog. Near the end of April, I took a look at “skunked” words. This is a term I came across first in Bryan Garner’s Dictionary of Modern...
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“Some superb entropy” in the language of spam
A recent post by Mark Liberman at Language Log showcased the following fine spam comment: 1. What a data of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious knowledge on the topic of unexpected emotions. It...
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