On the flip side, thank God communications stupidity continues
If people stopped making fools of themselves in their efforts to communicate, how would writers like us manage to continue to feel superior and smug?
A Milwaukee correspondent sent us this beauty, from the 10:00 local news:
"The spokesperson was discussing an incident involving an armed citizen who was squaring off against a police officer. The spokesperson said that the citizen 'had target acquisition' on the officers. In other words, he aimed his gun at them."
Everyone: Chortle!
Comments (2)
Your example is not exactly communications stupidity; it's a dialect of English that could be called "cop-speak." I work in law enforcement, and I see and hear a lot of it (which then must be translated into English.) Officers exit vehicles and ascertain; nobody EVER gets out of a car and sees. I'm not defending this, exactly: to the extent to which words hide reality rather than clarify it, cop-speak is a problem. It's not surprising, though, that the way people use language within a discipline leaks out into that discipline's dealings with the world at large.
Posted by Jennifer | May 3, 2005 8:38 AM
Posted on May 3, 2005 08:38
I can see why cops "exit the vehicle and ascertain" rather than get out of the car and see. They have a real social need to make their actions seem official and professional and measured and objective. It's just when it gets ridiculous--when they use "target acquisition"and they make themselves sound like RoboCop.
Posted by David Murray | May 3, 2005 9:20 AM
Posted on May 3, 2005 09:20