Spokespeak

There seems to be a sort of infectious communication sickness to which spokespersons are prone. It is a form of what the clinical pedant calls logorrhea, an uncontrollable flow of words.

Someone reporting today why a certain overground rail service to Wembley was to be cancelled during a strike of underground railway workers wanted to explain that the likely overcrowding might have been dangerous. What we heard was that such a service would be “unsustainable from the safety perspective”.

I worked for a while (and it seems like a long time ago) in a County Council office. At least one of my colleagues could never find it in himself to write simply. I think he believed that the dignity and authority of his clerical position would be undermined by the use of clear English.

And while I am whingeing about the quality of public announcements, may I add that our friendly weatherman on local TV has a few minutes ago humorously assured us that his message “was not all doom and gloom”: some areas would get rain, others would not. An earlier news report told us that a certain generous person with strong convictions had “put his money where his mouth is”.

I expect that every office in every television company displays a notice urging “Whenever you can find an appropriate cliché, be sure you use it”.

Spokespeak