bureaucratese

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Accepting responsibility" is always better than "being sorry." "Being sorry" means you did something wrong; "accepting responsibility" means, "Hey, people, now this story's old news."

  JL



sagehen <sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: sagehen
Subject: bureaucratese
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"I acknowledge that mistakes were made here. I accept responsiblity....."
AG Gonzales while displaying his facility with the grammar of
establishmentspeak, wherein the word "mistake" always calls for passive
construction, showed nimbleness in employing the forthrightness that has
become fashionable among politicians lately, by switching to active in the
next breath. In the recent election someone caught in a scandal did this
in reverse order. "Yes, I did it." Then immediately lost the points gained
by laying the blame on some sort of addiction & haring off to rehab.
More bread & circuses.
AM

~@:> ~@:> ~@:> ~@:>

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