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Federal News Radio
Reach out &
touch someone…
By Mike Causey
March 31, 2016
I once worked at a newspaper — which rhymes with The Washington Post —
where the ME (managing editor), a very smart, cool, with-it newsman,
once decreed that nobody could use the phrase “well-manicured lawns” in
any news story without getting pre-approval from him. It had become so
popular, such a crutch, that people were using it anytime they wrote
about a neighborhood, the suburbs, or just grass. It forced
language-lazy writers think of other ways to put things. With that in
mind …
Could your office or federal agency survive and do its job if some
popular but somewhat ambiguous words and phrases were banned
outright? Suppose, for example, that “transparency” was banned
from written or spoken word. How about if you couldn’t say “touch base”
or “agile” for any reason for any job-related, mission-oriented
(ooops!) reason.
Would you be “all in” with a buzzword ban?
Could your agency function, would the troops get beans and bullets,
would tax returns be collected, would Social Security payments be made
and national parks flourish if people weren’t allowed so say, read or
write something was “transformational”?
Or take the term “reach out.” Please!!!
The last time I used the term “reach out” was — I hope — more than 30
years ago. A friend had fallen into a river and was thrashing about
near some underwater roots that, among other things, were nesting
grounds for cottonmouth water moccasins. I told (yelled, actually) him
to calm down and to “reach out” and grab a long pole I have found. He
did. We both survived. End of story…
I wish.
Now, both in government and the media, it seems that people are
constantly reaching out to each other, and just about everybody else.
People no longer seem to contact people, or ask them something. Or just
get in touch. They reach out, which, to some of us, seems more biblical
than business-like. There was a time when people called or contacted
them. But with email and texting we now reach out.
I asked colleagues here at Federal News Radio some of their favorite
(not) phrases. Going forward was one. As opposed to going backward?
Another said he and his spouse, a federal contractor (???) had had
conversations centered around the all-too-frequent use of the word
agile. If not, why not?
Another said he had had it with hearing at the end of the day, though
he sometimes finds himself doing it. Drinking the Kool-Aid was also on
two people’s phrase to-ban list. Also it is not accurate because what
the folks at Jonestown drank wasn’t that particular product. And if you
don’t know what Jonestown was, where did you pick up the phrase?
So, what do you think? Do you have any words or phrases that are
overused. Or really don’t make much sense. If you’re all in, willing to
go forward, to get out of your stovepipe, we can all be both
transitional and transparent at the end of the day. The “innovation”
will create lots of synergy which will a good thing, right?
Please send your entries to me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com,
I have long suffered in silence. Until the other day. Then I reached
out to Google to see when the term became popular. And were there
others, like me, who are puzzled by it. I assume it came after “dude,”
which has survived a long time, and before bae, which two younger
colleagues (Meredith and Nicole) told me means Before Anyone Else. Get
it? Bae.
It hasn’t, at least in government, reached the level of usage that
“transparency” has. In fact, for some federal agencies, a press
release, speech or meeting with the media, or Congress, use of the term
transparency appears to be mandatory.
In 2014, Time Magazine said that asked the bae questions:
“The short answer: Though this word was used in the 1500s to refer to
sheep sounds, today bae is used as a term of endearment, often
referring to your boyfriend or girlfriend. Or perhaps a prospect who
might one day hold such a lofty position. Bae has also taken on a wider
meaning, being used to label something as generally good or cool, as
in, ‘This sandwich is bae.’”
Got it.
Next question. how long is it going to be around? Will it go the way of
knave, or blackguard, or churl? Or will it last as long as Twitter?
Whatever.
Spoiler alert: If you are in Denmark, don’t order a bae sandwich.
Read this and other articles at Federal News Radio
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