Little Book of Bollocks

Looks like there is someone else out there who doesn't like buzzwords. Britain's culture secretary Tessa Jowell admits to keeping a "little book of bollocks" where she lists gobbledegook spouted by her and her colleagues.

Reported in the Financial Times:

"I have what I call a bollocks list where I just sit in meetings and I write down some of the absurd language we use - and we are all guilty of this, myself included. The risk is when you have been in government for eight years you begin to talk the language which is not the language of the real world," the culture secretary says.

Some of the examples she provides:

"Reprofiling expenditure"
"sustainable eating in schools"
"regional cultural data feedback rollout"
"strategic objectives for evaluation"

and my favorite:

"weaning the profile"

Jowell is urging government to "cut the crap" and speak openly and directly with the people.

Methinks the private sector could also benefit from some language lessons from secretary Jowell.

Beth C.