atw: SEC: UNCLASS Weasel words
- From: "Silcock, Howard DR" <Howard.Silcock@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2005 15:25:18 +1000
Allan said:
> Incidentally, Don Watson did not invent the term 'weasel words'. It's
been around for ages,
> and I think Zinsser used it.
According to Don Watson himself, 'the term first appeared ... in the
United States, around the end of the nineteenth century. In 1916
Theodore Roosevelt declared that the "tendency to use what have been
called weasel words was 'one of the defects of our nation'"'. So Zinsser
could well have used it, but wouldn't have invented it. He isn't that
old.
As for your point about 'implement' being the real culprit, in the
context I was talking about - well, that's a good observation. On
reflection, I think too that 'framework' probably has its place, but it
is definitely overworked in management jargon. And my real point - as
I'm sure you realised - was that the authors of that passage seemed to
be introducing it so that they could appear to be promising to do
something about training when they were really just promising to kick
ideas around.
Howard
-------------------------------
Howard L. Silcock
Technical Writer
Project Office - Infrastructure
Department of Defence
(02) 626 58828
-------------------------------
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