Britain
British-government's banned buzzwords
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14 April, 2010 - 00:03
In March last year the British government issued an official list of words that have been banned from use by the councils in order that council members effectively communicate. Read the BBC reports on this.
I find this quite amusing.. and I also think that this is a Good Thing, albeit a rather daft list ("client" is a buzzword?). With people everywhere reading many of the same things thanks to the high-speed information sharing of the internet, the meanings of catchy phrases will often become warped or altogether changed, and either way, lose their meaning and their impact.
The full list of the banned words below:
| Agencies | Ambassador | Area based |
| Area focused | Autonomous | Baseline |
| Beacon | Benchmarking | Best Practice |
| Blue sky thinking | Bottom-Up | CAAs |
| Can do culture | Capabilities | Capacity |
| Capacity building | Cascading | Cautiously welcome |
| Challenge | Champion | Citizen empowerment |
| Client | Cohesive communities | Cohesiveness |
| Collaboration | Commissioning | Community engagement |
| Compact | Conditionality | Consensual |
| Contestability | Contextual | Core Message |
| Core principles | Core Value | Coterminosity |
| Coterminous | Cross-cutting | Cross-fertilisation |
| Customer | Democratic legitimacy | Democratic mandate |
| Dialogue | Direction of travel | Distorts spending priorities |
| Double devolution | Downstream | Early Win |
| Edge-fit | Embedded | Empowerment |
| Enabler | Engagement | Engaging users |
| Enhance | Evidence Base | Exemplar |
| External challenge | Facilitate | Fast-Track |
| Flex | Flexibilities and Freedoms | Framework |
| Fulcrum | Functionality | Funding streams |
| Gateway review | Going forward | Good practice |
| Governance | Guidelines | Holistic |
| Holistic governance | Horizon scanning | Improvement levers |
| Incentivising | Income streams | Indicators |
| Initiative | Innovative capacity | Inspectorates |
| Interdepartmental | Interface | Iteration |
| Joined up | Joint working | LAAs |
| Level playing field | Lever | Leverage |
| Localities | Lowlights | MAAs |
| Mainstreaming | Management capacity | Meaningful consultation |
| Meaningful dialogue | Mechanisms | Menu of Options |
| Multi-agency | Multidisciplinary | Municipalities |
| Network model | Normalising | Outcomes |
| Output | Outsourced | Overarching |
| Paradigm | Parameter | Participatory |
| Partnership working | Partnerships | Pathfinder |
| Peer challenge | Performance Network | Place shaping |
| Pooled budgets | Pooled resources | Pooled risk |
| Populace | Potentialities | Practitioners |
| Predictors of Beaconicity | Preventative services | Prioritization |
| Priority | Proactive | Process driven |
| Procure | Procurement | Promulgate |
| Proportionality | Protocol | Provider vehicles |
| Quantum | Quick hit | Quick win |
| Rationalisation | Rebaselining | Reconfigured |
| Resource allocation | Revenue Streams | Risk based |
| Robust | Scaled-back | Scoping |
| Sector wise | Seedbed | Self-aggrandizement |
| Service users | Shared priority | Shell developments |
| Signpost | Single conversations | Single point of contact |
| Situational | Slippage | Social contracts |
| Social exclusion | Spatial | Stakeholder |
| Step change | Strategic | Strategic priorities |
| Streamlined | Sub-regional | Subsidiarity |
| Sustainable | Sustainable communities | Symposium |
| Synergies | Systematics | Taxonomy |
| Tested for Soundness | Thematic | Thinking outside of the box |
| Third sector | Toolkit | Top-down |
| Trajectory | Tranche | Transactional |
| Transformational | Transparency | Upstream |
| Upward trend | Utilise | Value-added |
| Vision | Visionary | Welcome |
We could use such a list in tech. Web 2.0 anyone?
