Doublespeak

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0><script type="text/javascript" src="http://hb.lycos.com/hb.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://ratings.lycos.com/ratings/lycosRating.js.php"></script> <script type="text/javascript"><![CDATA[//><!]]></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://scripts.lycos.com/catman/init.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-start.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-middle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/ad/code-end.js"></script> <noscript> <img src="http://members.tripod.com/adm/img/common/ot_noscript.gif?rand=396980" alt="" width="1" height="1" />  <iframe frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" width="728" height="90" src="http://ad.yieldmanager.com/st?ad_type=iframe&ad_size=728x90&section=209094"></iframe>  </noscript> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=100 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="31800640egdysm.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="6" COLOR="#000099" FACE="Arial" ><B>The Message </b></FONT><B>   |     </b><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Message"><U><B>home</b></U></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=150 BGCOLOR="#0000BF" TEXT="#F7F7FF"> <div> <A HREF="http://www.amherstlodge.com/Games/Cockney/cockney06.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.amherstlodge.com/Games/Cockne"><U><B>Cockney Slang Game</b></U></A></div> <div> <B>In this free online game visitors are asked to identify what different sayings mean. Answers are provided. This site is great fun and provides an introduction into a world of lingo unfamiliar to most people. </b></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.ncte.org/news/NA99122doublespeakaward98.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.ncte.org/news/NA99122doublesp"><U><B>Doublespeak Awards</b></U></A><B> </b><B>Each year, the National Council of Teachers of English selects  examples of doublespeak. Examples are provided.</b></div> <div> <B> </b></div> <div> <A HREF="http://naturopathic.org/laughter/doublespeak.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://naturopathic.org/laughter/doubles"><U><B>Doublespeak Quotes</b></U></A></div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.townonline.com/working/about/doublespeak.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.townonline.com/working/about/"><U><B>Doublespeak:  The Language of Business</b></U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=380 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>Doublespeak</I></div> <bR> <bR> <div> November, 1996</div> <div> Doublespeak: The Language of Business</div> <div> <B>By </b><FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><B><U>William Lutz</U></b></FONT></div> <div> Chairman, English Dept.</div> <div> Rutgers University-Camden, NJ Campus </div> <div> I<FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >f there's one product American business can produce in large amounts, it's doublespeak -- language that makes the simple appear complex, turns bad news into good, or simply avoids saying anything at all. </FONT></div> <div> Think running a business means making a good product and selling it? Not at all. These days you have to talk about "globalization," "competitive dynamics," "re-equitizing," "empowerment," and "paradigm shifts." And to do all this you need a "Corporate Vision," which is the "organizational designs and operating processes that reinforce the behaviors necessary for successful execution of our particular strategies, including: Operating in an entrepreneurial, empowered, accountable, team-oriented, functionally-integrated, non-bureaucratic way, where...managers communicate, motivate, facilitate, integrate and develop rather than direct and do." </div> <div> And if that vision leads to a loss of business, you don't have to say you lost money. You just report "negative cash flow," "deficit enhancement," "net profit revenue deficiencies," or "negative contributions to profits." </div> <div> Got a problem with employees offering bribes or taking kickbacks? Not to worry. Call them "rebates" or "fees for product testing." </div> <div> No one gets fired these days, and no one gets laid off. If you're high enough in the corporate pecking order you "resign for personal reasons." And then you're never unemployed; you're just in an "orderly transition between career changes." But even those far below the lofty heights of corporate power are not fired or laid off. During these days of "cost rationalization," "reengineering," "restructuring," and "downsizing," companies fire or lay off workers many different ways. </div> <div> Companies make "workforce adjustments," "census reductions," or institute a program of "'negative employee retention." Corporations offer workers "vocational relocation," "career assignment and relocation," a "career change opportunity," or "voluntary termination." Workers are "dehired," "deselected," "selected out," "repositioned," "surplussed," "rightsized," "correct sized" "excessed," or "uninstalled." Some companies "initiate operations improvements," "assign candidates to a mobility pool," "implement a skills mix adjustment," or "eliminate redundancies in the human resources area." </div> <div> One company denied it was laying off 500 people. "We don't characterize it as a layoff," said the corporate spin doctor. "We're managing our staff resources. Sometimes you manage them up, and sometimes you manage them down." </div> <div> Firing workers is such big business that there are companies whose business is helping other companies fire workers by providing "termination and outplacement consulting" for corporations involved in "reduction activities." But don't worry, if you're "managed down," the "Outplacement Consultant" will help you with "re-employment engineering." </div> <bR> <div> From <I>The New Doublespeak: Why No One Knows What Anyone's Saying Anymore</I> by <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>William Lutz</U></FONT>, published by <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#0000FF" FACE="Arial" ><U>Harper Collins</U></FONT>.</div> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>