Comments on: Office speak - must we suffer in silence? http://www.artisanmc.co.uk/2008/06/17/office-speak-must-we-suffer-in-silence/ Artisan Marketing Communications offers clients PR and marketing communications advice, practical support and implementation. Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:05:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.2 By: Tom Cheesewright http://www.artisanmc.co.uk/2008/06/17/office-speak-must-we-suffer-in-silence/#comment-600 Tom Cheesewright Mon, 23 Jun 2008 15:39:40 +0000 http://www.artisanmc.co.uk/2008/06/17/office-speak-must-we-suffer-in-silence/#comment-600 Having worked in PR for many years, I've heard all these on a daily basis, as well as the dreaded and overused 'proactive', 'solution', and 'the world's leading'. I have become so inured to these words and phrases that I have even started to use them - I've caught myself at least once professing something to be 'on my radar'. But redundancies (like 'forward planning') aside, are these words and phrases really so terrible? 'Leverage' is neater than 'make use of'; 'synergy' represents a concept that is increasingly important in modern business; used appropriately, 'stakeholders' is a sensible word for often disparate interests. Orwell cites two key problems with the examples that he lists: 'staleness of imagery' and 'lack of precision'. I don't think these criticisms can be levelled at 'leverage', 'synergy', 'stakeholders', or even 'on my radar'. Having worked in PR for many years, I’ve heard all these on a daily basis, as well as the dreaded and overused ‘proactive’, ’solution’, and ‘the world’s leading’. I have become so inured to these words and phrases that I have even started to use them - I’ve caught myself at least once professing something to be ‘on my radar’.

But redundancies (like ‘forward planning’) aside, are these words and phrases really so terrible? ‘Leverage’ is neater than ‘make use of’; ’synergy’ represents a concept that is increasingly important in modern business; used appropriately, ’stakeholders’ is a sensible word for often disparate interests.

Orwell cites two key problems with the examples that he lists: ’staleness of imagery’ and ‘lack of precision’. I don’t think these criticisms can be levelled at ‘leverage’, ’synergy’, ’stakeholders’, or even ‘on my radar’.

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