The Met Office won a Golden Bull award from the Plain English campaign for talking of 'probabilities of precipitation' as well as other weatherese expressions including 'overnight tonight' and 'a rash of beefy showers'. I must say, that talking of precipitation seems reasonable to me, as it is not a synonym of rain, despite what some tabloids have been saying (such as this one); it refers to anything falling from the sky.
Other Golden Bull winners were Harrow Council for its 'Personalisation Implementation Team' and the airline Flybe for an incomprehensible letter, of which this is the first paragraph:
I believe that what has not been explained to you is that it is not a £4.50 card charge, in the process of booking a flight, you will have a booking fee which is for a Credit Card (return journey), booking fee £4.50 and Credit Card supplement £1.00, for a (one way) booking fee £5.50 and credit card charge £1.00.
There was also a very wordy letter sent by the Bishop of Blackburn to parishioners about the appointment of a vicar:
“...AND WHEREAS We have consented to the said period being so brought to an end and to the exercise of such right of presentation NOW WE HEREBY DECLARE that the said period shall come to an end on the date hereof and that the said vacancy in the said Benefice of Ansdell and Fairhaven Saint Paul in Our said Diocese of Blackburn may thereupon be filled...”.
The Plain English Campaign's Foot in Mouth award went to Silvio Berlusconi for such comments as "I am pretty often faithful".
For more gobbledegook award winners, see the Plain English Campaign's website.
There are probably a hundred reasons for an individual's butchering of a language, but there is no excuse for a corporate or governmental entity doing it.
In institutional cases, almost everything going out to the public is reviewed and approved by someone and/or actually written collaboratively, so plenty of eyes have seen it. A problem which I've actually seen play out, though, is that in today's politically-correct, "let's not hurt anyone's feelings" environments, people are reluctant to say "Stop. I'm confused. What in God's name are you trying to say?"
Left uncorrected, guess what that author's next piece will look like?
Posted by: John | December 10, 2011 at 01:06 PM
And then there's "managed decline", an expression receiving understandably heavy coverage on BBC Merseyside today. (30 Dec)
Posted by: John | December 30, 2011 at 05:23 PM
Yes, thanks John.
Posted by: Virtual Linguist | December 31, 2011 at 03:20 PM