Group fed up with baffling government jargon
原文：
LONDON (Reuters) – Autonomous benchmarking of best practices toward coterminous, holistic governance and stakeholder engagement… just does not cut it anymore.
Fed up with the babble, waffle and impenetrable jargon beloved of politicians and middle-managers, Britain’s local government association has drawn up a list of 200 words it wants public bodies to avoid if they are to communicate properly.
Gone should be terms or phrases such as "cascading" (sending an email around), "menu of options" (choices) and "predictors of beaconicity" (?), and in comes straight talk.
Instead of "transformational" just say "change," rather than "client" use "person" and avoid the confusion created by a phrase such as "distorts spending priorities" and just admit that whatever it is "ignores people’s needs."
"Why do we have to have ‘coterminous, stakeholder engagement‘ when we could just have ‘talk to people’ instead," said Margaret Eaton, the chairman of the Local Government Association (LGA).
"Councils have a duty, not only to provide value for money to local people, but also to tell people what they get for the tax they pay."
The banned words, taken from documents issued by the central government and public sector bodies, is being sent to council offices around the country to try to get everyone to be clear together, otherwise known as "consensually transparent."
British politicians have a long-held reputation for using sometimes meaningless jargon to paper over what they are really trying to say.
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair was fond of the word "stakeholders," which to many just meant taxpayers. Opposition leader David Cameron has been known to talk about "community engagement," otherwise known as getting people involved.
Among the LGA’s most unpalatable phrases are "best practice" (the best way of doing something), "benchmarking" (measuring), "slippage" (delay) and "democratic legitimacy" (voted in).
While some of the phrases are laughable, the LGA says there’s a serious point to simplifying language, believing that many people miss out on government services because they don’t understand what’s on offer.
"Unless information is given to people to explain what help they can get during a recession, then it could well lead to more people ending up homeless or bankrupt," said Eaton.
参考译文：
忍无可忍：晦涩官腔雷人
伦敦（路透社）——“对最佳实践进行自主性评估，以求实现共同、整体性治理和利益相关方接触……”人们对这样的话已经审美疲劳了。
英国地方政府协会列出了200个希望政府部门在沟通时避免使用的词汇。该协会炮轰一些政治人物和中层管理人员爱不释“口”的胡言乱语、东拉西扯、晦涩难懂的官腔。
把“发送电子邮件”叫“级联”，把“选择”叫“选项菜单”，还有没人能懂的“灯塔预测指示”等等等等应休矣，应该换用清楚明白的说法。
“变化”就是“变化”，不要胡扯什么“转型”；“人”就是“人”，不要大谈“客户”；不要再说“扭曲开支的优先事项”这类让人难以理解的话，它不就是“对人们的需求视而不见”吗？
英国地方政府协会（LGA）主席玛格丽特·伊顿（Margaret Eaton）表示：“如果我们可以‘与人谈话’，为什么非要与‘共同的利益相关方接触’呢？”
“政务会不但有责任为了当地人民体现出钱的价值，而且还有责任让人民明白钱交了税自己有什么好处。”
为了让大家都能明白清楚地表达自己的意思，或者说让大家都能做到“彼此透明”，该协会已经将这些全部取自英国中央政府和政府部门所发布文件中的词汇提供给了全国各地的政务会，并建议他们不要再使用。
英国的政治人物有时会用一些毫无意义的晦涩语言来掩饰自己真正想表达的意图，这一点久为人知。
英国前首相托尼·布莱尔曾经非常喜欢使用“利益相关者”这个词，很多人都认为首相这么说只不过是指“纳税人”而已。反对党领袖大卫·卡梅隆也曾经大谈“社区接触”，但它不过就是“让人们参与进来”的意思。
英国地方政府协会最感不满的词汇还包括“最佳实践”（做事情最好的办法）、“基准测试”（衡量）、“滑脱”（延迟）和“民主合法性”（投票选出）。
尽管其中有些词汇非常可笑，但是英国地方政府协会表示语言简化是一件严肃的事情。该协会相信，如果人们理解不了自己能得到什么，就会失去很多获得政府服务的机会。
伊顿表示：“除非人们清楚地了解在经济不景气的时候自己能够得到哪些帮助，否则会有更多的人最终无家可归或者破产。”
