I'm much less irritated by down-to-earth technical ignorance and misplaced pedantry than by the entire intellectual climate that produces this sort of thing:

Going forward, we need to leverage the synergies in order to incentivise the creation of a holistic, solutions-based paradigm shift.

Admittedly, I made this up. The problem is that I might not have.

What drives me nuts is people
who are driven
nutty
by a nutty view of technical correctness.
What will happen to writers who
accelerate
grammatical evolution too quickly?
Will the grammar police come a-knocking on our doors?

There are no grammatical boundaries
so long as writing is clear (enough), but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
most strung-together words contain some degree of ambiguity.

Statutory Instruments are supposed to be free from said problem,
But--- who wants to read legislation,
apart from the grammar police.

Going forward, we need to leverage the synergies in order to incentivise the creation of a holistic, solutions-based paradigm shift.

I find the Dilbert comics a good antidote to this kind of pseudo-intellectual business-speak.

On a similar vein, one of my pet hates is the 'mission statement'. The very term makes an organisation sound like a military unit.

Alex

The very term makes an organisation sound like a military unit.

& therefore perhaps acceptable if issued by a military unit?

Yes, rather than all the businesses, etc whose marketing people think they're so indispensable.

I once worked for a company whose personnel department had a 'mission statement' pinned to the wall. It essentially described what the staff were employed to do in return for money.

Jan

It essentially described what the staff were employed to do in return for money.

That summarises in a nutshell my main gripe with these things. What you've described is a contract of employment. Condensing it down to a one-liner and calling it a 'mission statement' has more to do with someone stoking their ego than with saying anything of genuine value.

Having said that, if a mission statement were something simple and to the point, such as 'We make bricks', I could live with it. It's the 'corporate bullshit' element of some of them that I find insufferable.

Alex

I can't find the thread that talked about poor grammar on TV, but this seems like an equally appropriate place to gripe about it.

This morning, a newsreader said, 'It may now be December, but we're getting an early taste of winter.' Huh?

A couple of nights ago, on the 6 o'clock news, a high-profile newsreader said something like, 'The man was killed by a mental patient, even though he was known to be dangerous.' So the mental patient was brave to have tackled his victim, I suppose?

It grieves me.

Jan

I would have described those as examples of poor usage, rather than poor grammar. The sentences are grammatically correct, but are either illogical or have a glaring ambiguity.

My wife likes to watch the TV with subtitles switched on, as it's then easier for her to understand what's going on. You should see some of the mistypes, during news bulletins. I think they must employ people with hearing difficulties as stenographers.

Alex

I would have described those as examples of poor usage, rather than poor grammar. The sentences are grammatically correct, but are either illogical or have a glaring ambiguity.

Poor usage is poor grammar. Grammar encompasses sentence construction and the way words are used. Both sentences are grammatically incorrect as each fails to convey the intended meaning.

Jan

Actually:

'It may now be December, but we're getting an early taste of winter.'

is neither logically nor grammatically incorrect, in that winter doesn't technically start until 21st December. Until then, it's autumn, so any winter-like weather that's happening is an early (i.e. pre-winter) tast of winter.

Alex

If we accept your assertion that it is not yet winter, then the sentence would still be ungrammatical. It should be:

'It may only be December, but we're getting an early taste of winter.'

Which would be grammatically correct, but still nonsense. Wintery weather in December is hardly untimely.

Jan

Alex, when you say winter doesn't technically start till.... where are you getting that date from? I think the boundaries for seasons are pretty fluid. My rule of thumb is that Dec, Jan and Feb are Winter; March, April, May are Spring; June, July, August are Summer; and Sept, Oct, Nov are Autumn. But really there are no hard boundaries, are there? And it varies from year to year.

Deb

Wintery weather in December is hardly untimely, Jan, I agree, but it began in November, and in this country we do more often get snow in Jan and Feb than in November, which is known for foggy, chilly nights rather than snow.

But I remember us having snow in May.

Wintery weather in December is hardly untimely, Jan, I agree, but it began in November, and in this country we do more often get snow in Jan and Feb than in November, which is known for foggy, chilly nights rather than snow.

But I remember us having snow in May.

<Added>

Apologies for double post - technical problems!