The LGA has published its annual list of words (pdf) which public services are discouraged from using when speaking to the public and there are some real crackers in there.
There are loads in there which are very applicable to social work and social care: here are a few of my personal favourites:
I'd be more than happy to hear about any words you think should be on the list or how social care manages without some of the words on there.
- Beacon
- Bottom-up
- Capacity building
- Compact
- Cross-cutting
- Direction of travel
- Examplar
- Quick win
- Level playing field
- Pathfinder
- Seed bed
- Signpost
- Commissioning
- Good practice
- Procurement
- Third sector
- Safeguarding
- Multi-agency
- Wellbeing
- Service users
- Reablement
I'd be more than happy to hear about any words you think should be on the list or how social care manages without some of the words on there.
Jargon is a big problem for human services.
There are lots of reasons why jargon exists, but it's result is to exclude the person and the people closest to that person from important discourses that directly affect the person's life.
I'd agree with the banning of the horrible term 'service user'. The emphasis on being a 'user' is unfortunate, since it hides the reality that people are also contributors to their communities, or could be given the right support.
I agree - I've never been a big fan of that term.
I also hate jargon that is used to cover up a general lack of action or genuine ideas
Someone got paid for coming up with that list, I wonder how much that cost the Tax payer?
The phrase 'core business' has no business in public services for reasons that should be self-explanatory.
However, my colleagues and I do enjoy seeing how often in one day we can slip various inane pieces of jargon into emails and conversations with the kind of idiotic managers who believe and routinely trot out this nonsense. Other colleagues have a 'word of the day': highest score wins. Little acts of rebellion to raise our spirits.
Sounds fun lilybright - these little acts of rebellion are crucial! Have you ever played bullsh%t bingo? Ticking off the meaningless words as they come up in meetings.