The Banned List

by John Rentoul

A manifesto for clear writing and an indictment of the damage done to the English language by the use of jargon
 
John Rentoul examines how poor writing and a reliance on jargon have damaged our ability to communicate with each other and makes the case for the use of clear English. He addresses the verbification of nouns, the use of waffle to pad out a simple statement, and the importing of business jargon into everyday situations. Unashamedly polemical in tone, his essay condemning contemporary linguistic atrocities is the perfect read for anyone who has ever had the misfortune to read a public policy report on key deliverables or a newspaper article about the latest game-changer.

"Am loving the Banned List. Will be my stock Xmas pressie. Was reading on bus earlier; woman next to me started tutting because I laughed too much." --Philip Cowley, Professor of Politics at Nottingham University

"Reading the brilliant - or should that be superb? - John Rentoul Banned List manifesto. Must buy." --Benedict Brogan, Deputy Editor, The Daily Telegraph

Genres: Nonfiction

112 pages, Hardcover

First published October 20, 2011

About the author

John Rentoul (born 1958) is a British journalist who has been the chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday since February 2004.

He was born in India, where his father was a minister of the Church of South India. Educated at Wolverhampton Grammar School, he studied History and English at King's College, Cambridge and worked on an oil rig before becoming a journalist on Accountancy Age.

Rentoul was a journalist on the New Statesman between January 1983 and May 1988, latterly as Deputy Editor, and a political reporter for BBC's On The Record between 1988 and 1995. He became a political correspondent of The Independent in 1995 and the chief leader writer at The Independent from January 1997 before becoming chief political commentator for The Independent on Sunday in 2004. He has described having "slavish admiration" for Tony Blair. He is also a visiting professor in Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London. His biography of Tony Blair has passed through several editions.

Fellow journalist Martin Bright has said Rentoul "remains one of the most incisive political columnists writing today, even though he has lost his access to the highest levels of power". In 2011, Total Politics said Rentoul "is probably the most high-profile defender of Tony Blair’s record in the British media, in a year when the mere mention of the former PM’s name provoked boos at the Labour Party conference. His column in The Independent on Sunday has become one of the last bastions of pure, unadulterated Blairism".

Rentoul has been critical of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition, he has been supportive of elements in the Coalition he identifies as Blairite or centrist. A member of the Labour Party for 33 years, he is very critical of Ed Miliband, out of a fear that Miliband could lead the Labour party to the left or continue with Gordon Brown's policies.

Reviews

[Phillip Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have just seen the political journalist Andrew Neil use the 'word' 'totes' (for 'totally') on Twitter. This would be excruciating enough from a teenager but from a grown man - not to mention a former editor of the Sunday Times - it is quite distressing. This is something up with which we should not put. Fortunately someone has his 'eye on the ball', so to speak. Or rather: so not to speak.

The Independent journalist John Rentoul seeks to do for clichés, jargon, waffle and other crimes against the English language, what Lynn Truss sought to do to bad punctuation in Eats Shoots and Leaves. To give writers and speakers a 'wake-up call' and force them to 'smell the coffee' and leave their 'comfort zone' - but not in those words. Not on his watch.

"My experience is that people care about language; pedantry is also popular," he says, in the entertaining fifty-page polemical essay that precedes the list itself. He is not the first person to try to uphold standards in English language usage, of course, and he does acknowledge his eminent predecessors: Henry Fowler (Modern English Usage) and George Orwell (Politics and the English Language) - whom he admires "mainly because his real name was Blair." (Adding a little more evidence to my theory that his Blair veneration is a long-running satire.)

The list itself includes a variety of horrors, few of which I would be sad to see thrown into the dustbin of history. As you might expect from a political journalist, it includes many of those slippery phrases found in the repertoire of politicans, like 'going forward', 'crunch talks', 'moral compass' and 'social mobility'. He also debunks some ill-considered metaphors: "Catalogue of errors. (Does it have glossy photographs?)"

Then there are tautologies such as 'added bonus', 'job of work' and 'any time soon' - which, as he points out, "is not a different way of saying 'soon', just a longer one." Also on the list are many of those phrases that begin to grate the moment they become fashionable, if not sooner. ('Epic fail' is a 'no-brainer', 'end of.') Plus "Full Stops. When. Used. For. Emphasis."

All banned, and rightly so. Although I think some of the more abominable entries ('normalcy' and 'problematise', for example) should not be given the oxygen of publicity. As for 'render inoperative', I really did laugh out loud at that one. I wonder who came up with that, and why they thought it necessary. Rentoul wisely leaves such etymological archaeology to Susie Dent, and simply bins it. Sorted.

The problem with a project like this is that it will always be a work in progress. More expressions that have jumped the shark will keep springing to mind. Best not to set the bar too high though, eh? Journalists, politicians and others who 'bandy words' for a living will find this an instructive text. Amusing too.

[William Koon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I disagree with Rentoul on one idea. I believe clichés are clichés at birth rather than by living too long a life. For example, I knew a banjo player who would invent a cliché if one did not exist. But watching the NCAA this week and listening to the mostly dead language announcers, we have to take Rentoul’s denouncement of much contemporary language as repetitive and false and just noises in the air. Of course, he is prissy and pedantic, but who isn’t? Yes, language lives and like all living things, changes, but many words just add to the death of meaning. He includes a useful glossary of words and phrases we should never ever use such as agency or toxic unless we mean really “agency” or “toxic.” Really. Other uses are just ew. Our contemporary use of language is at a flat and empty nadir reflecting our politicians and our media and ourselves. Memorize the glossary and never use those words again.

[Fang · Rating 2 out of 5]

i am not a native english speaker, so i don't know if my opinion counts.

i agree with some of his points (like the overuse of buzz words, meaningless corporate speak and expressions/words that are used wrong) but overall it gives me the vibes i get from people who do seminars claiming to know The Secret to succeed. this manifesto is useful for journalists (well, maybe not nowadays anymore) whose job is to keep the attention of the reader so they make more money, but if you write for fun i'd personally take this manifesto with a grain of salt.

[Thabs · Rating 2 out of 5]

This would have been a 3-star critique on over-used terms in the English language if the first half did not come across as a long-winded rant hence the rating I have given it. It did make me think twice (probably a cliché as well) about how I can vary my diction to sound more original, fresh and exciting.

[Melville Proust · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nothing I haven't heard before

[Daniel Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taking as his inspiration (among other things) George Orwell's essay Politics and the English Language, political journalist for the Independent John Rentoul writes a stirring and amusing polemic against the use of jargon in topical discourse that is widely applicable to many areas of life, before listing a wide range of such clichés and Banning Them. The result is brief, entertaining, and if, like me, the sight of a cliché makes you want to vomit, highly satisfying.

[Jacqueline Brocker]

I'm going to stop referring to my stories as 'pieces' thanks to this... drat, caught me out trying to sound suave! But probably better as 'story' is more precise than 'piece' (which is better suited when talking about pies and cakes.)

[Meg · Rating 1 out of 5]

what a piece of junk. at least it was short