Boris among ‘gobbledygook’ award winners
The mayor of London’s inventive terminology has seen him among the winners of an award for the most flagrant abuses of the English language.
The Plain English Campaign distributes its ‘Golden Bull’ awards annually, highlighting particularly egregious uses of nonsensical statements and ‘management speak’.
Boris Johnson’s gong came courtesy of a statement he made in a Transport for London press release, calling the capital “a cyclised city”.
Other award-winning examples include NHS Lanarkshire, which declaimed in a 34-page document this “baffling” statement: “These are cascaded to senior staff across the organisation through to frontline staff via a structured mechanism to facilitate ownership of data.”
The Foreign Office also received an award for this job advert, informing candidates that the role involves: “Maintenance and development of job narrative around FCO and its value proposition, using insights from research and evaluation as well as knowledge of the evolving FCO strategy to inform resonant messaging.”
Perhaps more concerning was the message on the underside of an official Association of Revenue and Customs coaster: “Non reflective surface – Wipe away dust and dirt.”
The award ceremony today in Manchester takes place alongside ‘National plain English day’.
The organisation describes itself as “campaigning against gobbledygook, jargon and misleading public information”.
