Officialese
Officialese, bureaucratese,buzzwords over simple, traditional ones; vagueness over directness; and passive over active voice[3][5] (some of those elements may, however, vary between different times and languages[6]). The history of officialese can be traced to the history of officialdom, as far back as the eldest human civilizations and their surviving official writings.[7]
Officialese is meant to impress the listener (or reader) and increase the
gobbledygook.[1][10] Its use can also result in unintended humorous incidents, and has been often satirized.[3]
Several similar concepts to officialese exist, including genteelism, commercialese, academese, and journalese.[3] The existence of officialese has been recognized by a number of organizations, which have made attempts to curtail its use in favour of plain language.[10][7][11]
See also
- Bureaucracy
- Business speak
- Fedspeak
- Legalese
- Manual of style
- Humphrey Appleby – a fictional character noted for his extremes in officialese
- Wooden language
References
- ^ ISBN 978-0-85724-831-2. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-81-8069-043-3. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-60442-445-4. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-19-514236-5. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-19-987462-0. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
- ISBN 978-1-58811-530-0. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-86189-080-1. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-0-226-13229-7. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-1-60497-675-5. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4081-2332-4. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
- ISBN 978-3-03911-444-3. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
External links
- J Renkema, On functional and computational LSP analysis: the example of officialese Archived 2013-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
- More about Gobbledygook, Rudolf FleschPublic Administration Review Vol. 5, No. 3 (Summer, 1945), pp. 240–244, https://www.jstor.org/stable/973061
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