Officialese

Officialese, bureaucratese[1][2], or governmentese is language that sounds official.[3] It is the "language of officialdom".[4] Officialese is characterized by a preference for wordy, long sentences; a preference for complex words, code words or buzzwords over simple, traditional ones; a preference for vagueness over directness and a preference for 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]

Not to be confused with official language.

Officialese is meant to impress the listener (or reader) and increase the authority (more than the social status) of the user, making them appear more professional.[3][4] Ernest Gowers noted that officialese also allows the user to remain vague.[3] It can be used to make oneself understood to insiders while being hard to decipher by those unfamiliar with the jargon and subtexts used.[8] Its use is known to put off members of the general public and reduce their interest in the material presented.[9] Officialese has been criticized as making one's speech or prose "stilted, convoluted, and sometimes even indecipherable"[3] and simply as the "cancer of language".[2] It is thus more pejoratively classified as one of the types of 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 .[10][7][11]

See also

References
  1. Olivia Stockard (8 June 2011). The Write Approach: Techniques for Effective Business Writing. Emerald Group Publishing. p. 62. ISBN 978-0-85724-831-2. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  2. V.S. Gupta (1 January 2003). Handbook Of Reporting And Communication Skills. Concept Publishing Company. p. 8. ISBN 978-81-8069-043-3. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  3. Bryan A. Garner; Ruth Bader Ginsburg (31 March 2009). "Genteelisms, Officialese, and Commercialese". Garner on Language and Writing. American Bar Association. p. 88-94. ISBN 978-1-60442-445-4. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  4. Bryan A. Garner (17 May 2001). A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage. Oxford University Press. p. 615. ISBN 978-0-19-514236-5. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  5. Bryan A. Garner (28 July 2009). "Formal Words". Garner's Modern American Usage (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 370-71. ISBN 978-0-19-987462-0. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  6. J. Renkema (2004). Introduction to Discourse Studies. John Benjamins Publishing. p. 152. ISBN 978-1-58811-530-0. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  7. Steven Roger Fischer (3 October 2004). History of Language. Reaktion Books. p. 193. ISBN 978-1-86189-080-1. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  8. Barbara Czarniawska (15 April 1997). Narrating the Organization: Dramas of Institutional Identity. University of Chicago Press. p. 152. ISBN 978-0-226-13229-7. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  9. Talke Klara Hoppmann (18 March 2010). Citizen Perceptions of the European Union: The Impact of the Eu Web Site. Cambria Press. p. 411. ISBN 978-1-60497-675-5. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  10. Martin Manser (28 August 2011). Good Word Guide: The fast way to correct English - spelling, punctuation, grammar and usage. A&C Black. p. 451. ISBN 978-1-4081-2332-4. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
  11. Christopher Williams (30 June 2007). Tradition and Change in Legal English: Verbal Constructions in Prescriptive Texts. Peter Lang. p. 177. ISBN 978-3-03911-444-3. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
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