At the end of the day, writes Graham Hopkins, well placed cliches can convey so much in a report.
It's the same old story isn't it? In a nutshell, we've had all and sundry sitting in their ivory towers telling us that we should avoid cliches like the plague.
I say hold your horses. I might rock the boat and ruffle some feathers, but the conventional wisdom smells fishy to me. Indeed, you might think I've got bigger fish to fry or that I've a got a chip on my shoulder, but cliches are meat and drink to me.
There's more to a cliche than meets the eye. Sure, they can stick out like a sore thumb, but time and time again a cliche can warm the cockles of your heart. I know that I'm going against the grain but all things being equal, I want the best of both worlds. And that's not because I'm in two minds either.
All I say is don't count your chickens (spring, headless or otherwise) before they're hatched. At the end of the day, a cliche is par for the course. I realise that I've got my work cut out but there's no two ways about it: to some, cliches might stink to high heaven, but I'll use them until hell freezes over.
The poor, little cliche, which comes from the French verb "clicher" meaning to stereotype (in French "cliche" is also used for a photographic negative), has had a pretty ropey press. We're told they're just tired old phrases that have lost their impact through over-use.
In his preface to Christine Ammar's excellent Methuen Dictionary of Cliches, Frank Muir defended cliches as being "to academically correct speech what baked beans are to Coq au Vin," and adds, "but baked beans are very much more popular than Coq au Vin and are not only just as filling but probably better for us."
Certainly, there is a need to take care over their use, but cliches are easily understood turns of phrase. Social care writing is not about being creative or displaying a wide vocabulary - it's about communicating. And these phrases work.
And did you know that if you "haven't had a wink of sleep" but "your heart's desire" was to be "sound as a bell" proving there was "method in your madness" you might be accused of unleashing the savage dogs of cliche, but equally you would be quoting Shakespeare.
So, if you find cliches blood-boiling, hackle-raising or craw-sticking, consider a change of heart. Indeed, you could also change your spots, stripes and tune. And before you know it, Bob could be your uncle and Fanny your aunt.
- From now on we'll be giving away either a copy of Plain English for Social Services or The Write Stuff - A Guide to Effective Writing in Social Care (both by Graham Hopkins and published by Russell House - www.russellhouse.co.uk) to contributors of amusing quotes and examples of jargon, gobbledygook or managementspeak. Please send to graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
Language massacre
- "I am very excited about this initiative and feel that it will really add something to our pogrom."
From a letter received by Juliet Koprowska, University of York
Contributions welcome. Please send them to graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
Safety belt up
"The report highlighted the stocktake of the work undertaken within the framework of the existing Community Safety Strategy, the gaps and priorities for the next strategy and identified six broad themes, each with overall aims, as a basis for taking forward the strategy."
From Barnsley's Community Safety Strategy.
Please send in examples of jargon, gobbledygook and management-speak to graham.hopkins@rbi.co.uk
