Posted on April 15, 2010 by Gary Chow | 1 Comment » | Trackback URL
Writers and speakers of plain English use straightforward expressions and words their audience understand. They get straight to the point, avoiding inflated vocabulary, long-winded sentences, buzzwords and jargon. They concentrate on delivering the message rather than trying to impress.
On the other hand, people who speak and write in gobbledegook do the opposite. They distract and confuse their audience with nonsense and complicated, pretentious language. In short, they speak gibberish. The Australian prime minster, Kevin Rudd, is a case in point. His love of corporatespeak, jargon and weasel words makes him a deserved figure of fun and a brunt of jokes.
Watch the video and see how smug Rudd looks when he utters the nonsense term, ‘programmatic specificity’. His head just about wobbles.
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On May 29, 2011 at 10:24 am
Plain English Donald Rumsfeld style | Lucid Lingo said:
[...] At home, we have our very own Kevin Rudd doing his best to broaden our appreciation of jargon and gobbledygook – a true champion in the lingo. He returned to form recently when he referred to the ‘operationalisation’ of a UN plan. And of course, who can ever forget his ‘programmatic specificity’! [...]