Phrases/words that set your teeth on edge.

[Tapiola]

More dismal corporate-babble from work:

"Blended learning"

"Publishing out" (referring to website content)

"Bottoming out"

[Ferretfancy]

Also when politicans in particular duck issues by saying, "That's all very well, but we need to remember we are where we are".

Normally followed by "Let there be no mistake --"

[LeMartinPecheur]

"Trust me to protect the NHS, says Cameron." (Front page headline today)

[Serial_Apologist]

And why are initiatives always being "rolled out"?

[Don Petter]

And why are initiatives always being "rolled out"?

In preparation for some 'cookie cutter' creations?

[Pabmusic]

"Trust me to protect the NHS, says Cameron." (Front page headline today)

It rather depends on how it's said, doesn't it? I can't get Laurel & Hardy out of my mind: "Doh! - trust me to protect the NHS, Ollie…" [scratches head] "Yes, Stanley, we're supposed to dismantle it" [gives the look; piccolos start playing].

[Don Petter]

It rather depends on how it's said, doesn't it? I can't get Laurel & Hardy out of my mind: "Doh! - trust me to protect the NHS, Ollie…" [scratches head] "Yes, Stanley, we're supposed to dismantle it" [gives the look; piccolos start playing].

Yes, it's all a matter of emphasis, as I can't help thinking when I see the slogan on our local water company vans: 'Making water work!'

[Nick Armstrong]

An absolute mine of teeth-grinding phrases and their true meanings here:

https://www.civilservant.org.uk/jargon.pdf

I liked so many: not least

Raft Of Measures

meaning

"None of these ideas are any good but if we throw them together as part of a
“package”, at least it will look as if we are trying." (See also toolkit)

[Stanfordian]

In the world of British football we no longer have a 'team' of players we have a 'group'. Liverpool Brendan Rodgers is one of the worst for foisting this outrage on the traditional football fan.

[MrGongGong]

Raft Of Measures

Makes me think of this one

[Tapiola]

An absolute mine of teeth-grinding phrases and their true meanings here:

https://www.civilservant.org.uk/jargon.pdf

I liked so many: not least

Raft Of Measures

meaning

"None of these ideas are any good but if we throw them together as part of a
“package”, at least it will look as if we are trying." (See also toolkit)

This is a veritable feast, Caliban.

Doubtless, like-minded colleagues and I will be talking about it tomorrow, or rather, "having conversations, going forward".

[mangerton]

This is a veritable feast, Caliban.

Doubtless, like-minded colleagues and I will be talking about it tomorrow, or rather, "having conversations, going forward".

Oh indeed. I followed Caliban's link, and it's really too true to be funny. Whoever started "going forward" should have been shot at birth. I hear it almost every day, mostly from airheads who haven't two brain cells to rub together. They're the sort of people who affect poses, oblivious of the effect that has on others - and who, oddly enough, commonly misuse and confuse these two words.

[Tapiola]

They're the sort of people who affect poses, oblivious of the effect that has on others - and who, oddly enough, commonly misuse and confuse these two words.

Hear hear mangerton! A few years ago the corporate goons at the top of my workplace produced - at high cost - a glossy pamphlet entitled "Getting It Write", ostensibly to construct a corporate "style" and to "correct" "common" "errors" in written communication perpetrated by its employees. This worthless rag was littered with syntactical and grammatical schoolboy mistakes and just sheer bullsh1t. One example which sticks with me was a confusion between "inquiry" and "enquiry".

I sent the pamphlet back directly to the Chief Executive who had commissioned it, with all errors that I could find highlighted. There were at least one hundred that I could find in a 30 page publication. I am sure there were many more that I did not spot.

The booklet itself had a very short shelf life and was hastily and silently withdrawn, never to be mentioned again, as many, many disgruntled fellow employees felt the same way as I did about it.



I will of course name and shame the organisation upon PM request.

[P. G. Tipps]

When I was a lad a 'conversation' normally referred to a couple of sweet old ladies having a chat over a cup of tea.

Now it seems to refer to anything from a debate on Scottish Independence to whether we should drop bombs in Iraq.

[gurnemanz]

Someone on Newsnight has just referred to the "least worst option". This can be heard quite often. Is this now accepted usage despite being ungrammatical? Or does it come under jokey deliberate misuse. Surely "least bad" is what they mean.