Clayboy – from whom I’ve shamelessly pilfered this – is quite right, this is genius.
Tags: Education
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on Monday, May 16th, 2011 at 8:20 pm and is filed under Webmaster's Ramblings.
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May 17th, 2011 at 12:34 pm
Thanks for this, which had me laughing out loud at times! It reminded me of some of the brilliant double-speak in ‘Yes Minister’: ‘Are quite sure Minister?’ = ‘Everyone is going to think you’re mad!’ or ‘That’s very brave, Minister.’ = ‘This is political suicide.’
I was at an AHRC day seminar a few months ago (held at the Dominion Theatre, on the Tottenham Court Road, where ‘We Will Rock You’ is playing, for some reason!) on the humanities and careers in the media. One speaker managed to speak for a whole five minutes using nothing but clichés. Myself a few of the other more attentive members of the audience began to quietly giggle. It was the same kind of double speak as above, though the intention was to sound knowledgeable rather than agreeable.
One of the reasons I am rather a fan of non-British English speakers (with the exception of Americans, who are worse than the Brits for this kind of semantic charm) is that they tend to be more honest. I too try and not play these little language games – but then people say you are being rude, when often you are just being on honest and treating them with respect rather than empty flattery.
I am reminded of the words of Anthony Blanche in ‘Brideshead Revisited’: “Charm is the great English blight. It does not exist outside these damp islands. It spots and kills anything it touches.”
I think there is some truth in this… I would suggest… I almost agree…
Thanks:
P.