Weaselwords

Johnno

The Living Force
An Australian author Don Watson has a website www.weaselwords.com.au and has written a book.

His about him page:

When Don Watson wrote Death Sentence* a torrent of letters and emails began from people rebelling against managerial language. Since then Watson's Dictionary of Weasel Words, Contemporary Clichés, Cant & Management Jargon has been published and this site has been set up.

It is for people who have silently wept into a crumpled copy of their company's mission statement, for teachers who want to work in classrooms and not customer service points, and for all those who have been underpinned by an innovative, value adding, creative, sustainable, diverse and optimised framework.

In short, it's describing Orwell's "Newspeak" in business and bureaucratic environments.

Such as.

Confirming our discussion of earlier today. I am in agreeance with your proposal, and am willing to support the successful conclusion of these works. To this end your team will assume responsibility for scheduling future works to suit production priorities and efficient utilisation of your available resources.'

Ie Yes....go ahead. Agreeance apparently isn't even a word according to my spell checker.  ;)

Sometimes these statements are spin-doctored and PR'ed within an inch of their life and at other times they seem to be the way some of these people speak such as Ford Motor Company's PR regarding sacking 300+ workers.

Ford in Australia will 'right-size our business' by 'staff-balancing changes' according to chief executive Marin Burela. ' We would be taking proactive steps in terms of reducing our throughput through our build operations ... In line with the production down-balance we have also taken the opportunity to take a good look strategically where we are, what we're doing and how do we move forward.

So got any weasel words?
 
Johnno said:
So got any weasel words?

This is excellent! Good grief, darn near any statement from a politician is WeasleEaze.
Why is a politician like a baby diaper?
They need often changing, for the same reason...
:lol: :lol: :lol:
 
I think the right address is weaselwords.com.au
The other is a site to ferrets?

Staying slightly off-topic with this, yes, it is a site about ferrets. But why call it 'weaselwords'?

Are ferrets and weasels considered to be the same animal in the US?

ferret: noun a small weasel-like animal used to chase rabbits out of their warrens. Often
kept as pets in the North of England.

weasel: noun a small wild animal with a long and slender body, that lives on mice, birds,
etc. (As I recall, weasels have a longer snout than ferrets.)

Two different animals in the UK.
 
Ahh... American slang :P

Maybe this may offer some insight:

weasel: meaning and definitions — from Infoplease.com

Noun
1. any small carnivore of the genus Mustela, of the family Mustelidae, having a long, slender body and feeding chiefly on small rodents.
2. any of various similar animals of the family Mustelidae.
3. a cunning, sneaky person.
4. a tracked vehicle resembling a tractor, used in snow.
5. Slang.an informer; stool pigeon.

Verb
1. to evade an obligation, duty, or the like; renege (often fol. by out): That's one invitation I'd like to weasel out of.
2. to use weasel words; be ambiguous; mislead: Upon cross-examination the witness began to weasel.
3. Slang.to inform.
 
Good examples of weasel words can be found here ; 'Psycho-Babel: A Ponerological Approach to Modern Doublespeak and the Distortion of Language'.

Here also: 'The Language of Zionism'

_http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/5056

Countered by public figures who actually speak in plain words:

_http://ahmedismailibrahim.wordpress.com/2007/13/19/quotes/
 
Back
Top Bottom