\nIt shouldn’t take more than one reading to decipher a passage of text.<\/p>\n
How often do you ponder a passage of text that you just can\u2019t untangle on one reading? Every day, I expect. Today\u2019s special for me was an email from a software firm that included terms like \u2018personalisation\u2019, \u2018confidentiality provision\u2019, \u2018ecosystem partners\u2019, \u2018beta participants\u2019, \u2018busywork\u2019 \u2014 and more!<\/p>\n
One or two of these terms I could manage and, to be fair, the writer was trying to summarise a larger document that was even more complex. But the two very long paragraphs in the email were jam-packed with similar terms. So the overall result was that the email missed its mark. The text was dense and difficult to decipher, so I didn\u2019t really bother to try.<\/p>\n
Gobbledygook hides the main messages. The reader has to struggle to understand. And that makes our busy lives even busier. If they give up, they\u2019ve wasted their time. It\u2019s not okay.<\/p>\n
The People\u2019s Choice Awards give you the chance to find examples of gobbledygook in everyday communications and dob them in. Nominate the worst communications you\u2019ve found for the Brainstrain Award. You can nominate documents or webpages from government or business organisations.<\/p>\n
We\u2019d love to hear from you so we can help to stamp out gobbledygook. This is your chance to change the way New Zealand communicates!<\/p>\n