Tag Archives: ambiguity

Death sentences

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

Nailing his colours to David Miliband’s mast last week in the Labour leadership election, former Home Secretary Alan Johnson said: ‘his greatest talent is the ability to put really complex ideas into very simple language.’ Personally, I don’t know about … Continue reading →

Tagged ambiguity, business language, death sentences, Don Watson, gobbledeygook, jargon, management speak | 2 Comments

Tales from Wales

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

By odd coincidence I happen to have spent election night in the home of a former British Prime Minister. I am at Ty Newydd, the house to which Lloyd George retired from politics, now the Welsh National Writing Centre. It’s … Continue reading →

Tagged abstraction, ambiguity, business language, business writing, corporate speak, gobbledeygook, jargon, owls, stories, storytelling, welsh legend | 2 Comments

Writing elsewhere

Posted on April 9, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

While we continue to pay daily tribute to International PEN’s 50 imprisoned writers through 26:50, I find myself constantly trying to imagine how they managed to write; where they found and concealed their materials, how they avoided the scrutiny of … Continue reading →

Tagged abstraction, ambiguity, business language, business writing, corporate speak, creativity, gobbledeygook, Hemingway, imprisoned writers, jargon, management speak, stories, storytelling, tone of voice | 2 Comments

50 words for 50 days

Posted on March 18, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

My fellow Dark Angel, John Simmons, responded to my last week’s post by adding ‘the pretence of objectivity’ to the list of ingredients that I suggested might be swilling around in the toxic soup called management speak – or Manglish … Continue reading →

Tagged abstraction, ambiguity, business language, business writing, corporate speak, creativity, gobbledegook, gobbledeygook, imprisoned writers, jargon, management speak, newspeak, tone of voice | 2 Comments

In the beginning …

Posted on February 25, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

A friend sent me an article from a recent edition of the Harvard Journal of Management, not my normal bedtime reading. It reports how a group of scholars and business leaders came together to consider the great challenges involved in … Continue reading →

Tagged abstraction, ambiguity, business language, business writing, corporate speak, gobbledeygook, management speak, stories, tone of voice | 2 Comments

Trampled by mammoths

Posted on January 8, 2010 by Jamie Jauncey

Speak of resolutions in this season, and one thinks of those backbone-stiffening intentions with which we traditionally enter a new year. We resolve to do things; things recognised, even acknowledged, but previously undone. We firm our minds towards some new, … Continue reading →