Local Government Association says...

Like the sketch from Little Britain, the LGA says no to 200 words which they want banned in their use from councils. Some of them will be very familiar to those that play bulls**t bingo in meetings – like “blue sky thinking” and “thinking out of the box” but the majority of them are part and parcel of any business or management book, and The PRologist is at least relieved that council workers take the time to read books to further their development.

But what is the purpose of the list? Will every person that works for a council have a list with them that they have to check against banned words? Will a special version of Microsoft Word be installed that will eliminate these words and replace them with suitable alternatives?

Of course not. The answer lies in a quick Google search. A press release ahead of Plain English day was released by the LGA on 11 December 2007 entitled Councils help battle for plain English and a list of 100 words were published that should not be used. So how effective was this wonderful piece of PR in changing behaviours? 0% - as all 100 words appear on the list of 200 words!

The conservative side of The PRologist would suggest that actually this has nothing to do with changing behaviour but just a rehash of a PR idea which did not work the first time.

I am sure the LGA does some very worthwhile work but this piece of PR leaves a sour taste in the mouth and gives the impression of yet another government quango wasting taxpayers money.

What would have been of more benefit is lobbying behind the scenes to raise the standards of communication and for people to receive training and be educated in improving their communication skills. Let’s have solutions rather than deliver a poor PR stunt which probably had the PR team in a fit of giggles. At least, The PRologist hopes the PR team had a laugh over it – if they didn’t we’re really in trouble. Next time though PR team why don’t you just stand up and be counted and say it’s a shit idea – oops is that a banned word? The PRologist has just seen an advert for a BBC 2 programme on Speech – the lost art of oratory. Here here…

As a previous Prime Minister once said “Education, education, education”. However, The PRologist’s computer would like the last word on this matter. Computer says… “No”.