Shirley Curran
There is an intriguing list of 100 words that the Local Government Authority in England and Wales encourages its employees not to use if they wish to be heard.
The discussion that follows is entertaining. It is a combination of two groups: those with hurt pride because they feel that the LGA is simplifying because it regards them as semi-literate, and those who use those words all the time and want to go on doing so.
An occasional voice points out that these are jargon words that have lost their impact because they are used mindlessly. Let me add to the discussion.
Watching almost content-free television programmes after a copious Christmas dinner, I began to count the ‘You know’s and ‘I mean’s. Surely those are the words that should be on the banned list together with the ‘um’s and ‘er’s that make up half of what is, or is not said?
That promotes another observation. How lucky we are that our children, educated in Europe, are not exposed to that sub-standard speech. Some of them are fortunate enough to take the International Baccalaureate. Thirty per-cent of the final English grade is based on oral work, and diploma holders speak effectively and distinctly. No jargon and no fillers!
GenevaLunch, 7 January 2008.
Filed under: Non-fiction
Tags: Education
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