Monday, September 22, 2014

Jargon helps to hide and keep things 'secret'

Inez Bailey, Director of the National Adult Literacy Agency, has spoken on the increasing use of jargon in our spoken and written language.

She made reference to words used last week by Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin. When speaking of the current financial situation he said: " .... ventilated in the public area." It would have been far clearer to have said 'aired in public'.

Ms Bailey says that jargon happens a lot in bureaucracies and it generally means something is not well explained. She suggests people need to write for their reader and not for themselves.

NALA Director gives a number of examples and points out that the medical profession is prone to the problem as is the world of finance.

The agency gives a list of jargon terms.

More to add to the list: 'Restructuring for Mission'. It means closing down some places. And, 'core ministry of primary pastoral care'. Difficult to know exactly what that means.

Pope Paul Vl often quoted Augustine: "I prefer to speak ungrammatically and be understood by the people, rather than appear learned and not be understood."

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