And the hits just keep on coming. Another day, another edition of our all-singing, all-dancing, all-shonking compendium of shifty language.
Consultation: Politicians see consultation as Mozart saw music — it’s everywhere, it’s in everything. So, say you destroyed something irreplaceable after a consultation process that many of those affected say was profoundly inadequate, does that mean you can’t use consultation as a defence? Does it bollocks!
Example, via Premier Daniel Andrew: “We have had court processes, we’ve had agreements, we’ve had settlements, we have fundamentally done as we said we would do, and we have directly consulted and continue to consult with the 12 families that are the traditional owners of this particular part of our state”
Safety net: Social Services Minister Anne Ruston went all Jacques Derrida this week, daring to ask, well, what is “poverty” anyway? Alas, a definition has apparently long eluded the government’s greatest minds. “A narrow definition of [ed note: Rushton actually did air quotes] ‘poverty’, as I said, is not something the government has ever sought.”
As such, the definition of “safety net” became similarly elastic and relative, shifting from, you know, an actual safety net to something you could probably survive on, for a bit.
“The reality is…”: Much like “with all due respect“, this phrase gives the impression a question has already been answered. A reader defines it as a “frank dismissal disguised as a wearied entreaty. An expression of rhetorical irritation. A verbal sign of determination not to address an interlocutor’s question or comment”.
Regret: The beauty of the word “regret” in the mouth of the spiv is that it can be attached to the word “any” and immediately be drained of all meaning, referring not to a specific event that one is responsible for but rather a vague possibility that some may or may not have happened.
Example: after the Qatari government subjected 18 women to a horrifying “compulsory medical examination” (following the discovery of a newborn baby abandoned in Doha International Airport), it issued a statement saying it regrets “any distress or infringement on the personal freedom of any traveller”.
“To my knowledge”. Meaning 1: after exhaustive study of the records, and interviews with everyone affected, I can say with certainty that..
Meaning 2: I have made no inquiries, and talked to no-one, and am not myself expert in this, but my understanding is…. (ie as far as I know, which is not far)
WEasels inevitably imply meaning 1, when they are ready to jump to a claim that they meant 2 when they are shown to be lying. Fellows in the art of dissembling,including, usually, politicians of the opposite side, never investigate at first instance what a cop, or a politician, or a bureaucrat intends to imply. After all, they may, in due course, need the same let out.
“Mistakes were made” – but not by me.
Today’s contribution: “early morning radio banter gone wrong”.
Any comments where “learnings” are mentioned.
Usually lots of “learnings”, but nothing learned!
Certainly not proper-like grammarness.
The public generally takes consultation to mean government bodies will do exactly what they tell it, even if what they say is internally conflicted, or in conflict with other parties to a consultation.
Which is an opportunity for government . . .