Officials have been issued with an online style guide governing everything published on the Gov.uk website which clears up what is acceptable Whitehallese.

No longer will civil servants be able to “deliver” improvements or priorities, as the term is reserved for items such as pizzas and post, not abstract concepts. The only thing that they can now “drive out” is cattle or “foster” is children, the style guide suggests.

Tackling is also banned, “unless it is rugby, football or some other sport”, and the writers of the guide point out that the “key” should be used only in a lock.

More than 30 terms of jargon which have crept into Government announcements and policy documents have now been placed off-limits.

The guide advises: “Use plain English. Don’t use formal or long words when easy or short ones will do. Use ‘buy’ instead of ‘purchase’, ‘help’ instead of ‘assist’, ‘about’ instead of ‘approximately’ and ‘like’ instead of ‘such as’.

Unless it is a meeting there will be no agenda, and there will be no collaborating, advancing or combating.

Civil servants will no longer commit of pledge, because, as the guide points out, “we’re either doing something or we’re not”.

The style guide has been created by the team who put together the Government’s new website Gov.uk which brings all the services under one site. More.

See: The Telegraph

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