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‘Let’s stop using antiquated language and jargon,’ says columnist




I am getting increasingly fed up with the use of jargon and antiquated language in our 21st Century lives.

When a motorist is in court for drink driving, why are they still often said to be ‘in drink’? They were presumably caught recently, not in the 1800s, as that expression would have us believe.

And when you receive correspondence from your bank or credit card company, why, in 2023 are they talking about ‘monies owing’? It’s just money, or cash.

I recently received a letter from my insurance company which, on opening, scared the life out of me. The letter header, in massive writing, read ‘LEGAL NOTICE’.

The next line mentioned the ‘High Court of Justice’ and then there was a ‘Notice is now Given’ line too. “What have I done wrong and how much will it cost me,” were my first thoughts. But I needn’t have worried – this was a letter, saying, I think, my insurance company was transferring to another business. Only it was written in archaic speech and for some reason, they don’t care to explain it properly to their customers.

Same goes with my pension. Like many of you, I’ve changed jobs over the years, and recently I’ve been trying to move four pensions into one pot. Two of them have been ‘being actioned’ for 16 months without any ‘action’ seemingly taking place. But when I inquired how things were going the other day, I did receive this:

“I have checked our transfer portal and can see that both funds that are set to transfer both contain formal protected rights which we are able to accept and a confirmation of such has been sent.”

I checked with my pension advisor who said this means they cannot do the transfer. And then he called back five minutes later to say they could. So the legal speak even baffled an expert.

I ask my reporters to write in a language that everyone with reasonable reading ability can understand. And if they use a term or a word I think the average reader may not understand, I ask them to change it.

There is nothing clever about writing in a way that only a few comprehend. In fact, it resonates with the old myth that the Catholic Church kept the Bible in Latin so ordinary believers couldn’t read it. The English language is a rich, varied and beautiful one. But it should be used in a way that everyone understands.



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