{"id":772,"date":"2013-03-25T14:06:55","date_gmt":"2013-03-25T01:06:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=772"},"modified":"2013-03-25T14:06:55","modified_gmt":"2013-03-25T01:06:55","slug":"an-abstract-art-best-avoided","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/?p=772","title":{"rendered":"An abstract art best avoided"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Island\"<\/a>I once heard the humorist Frank Muir describe classical music as \u2018the kind of music that you keep hoping will turn into a tune.\u2019<\/p>\n

I often feel the same way about the utterances of some politicians.\u00a0 If I listen long enough (I think), sooner or later some of what they are saying might just start to make sense.\u00a0 The important-sounding words and phrases just might turn into some kind of message that I can act on or think on.\u00a0 Alas, there are many occasions on which my hopes remain unrealised.<\/p>\n

More often than not, the problem comes down to the love that politicians \u2013 and others \u2013 seem to have for abstract language.<\/p>\n

Take this recent gem:<\/p>\n

\u2018Moving forward, and into the future, collectively and with the whole-hearted engagement of the community and of society as a whole, embracing the possibilities that are now before us; engendering confidence, creating opportunities for sustainable economic wealth; ensuring that hard-working families have the tools that they need; and that our environment is protected, not just for our children but for their children and their children\u2019s children.\u2019<\/p>\n

It sounds impressive, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 But what does it mean?\u00a0 Nothing.\u00a0 Well, nothing that anyone can act upon.<\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the problem with abstract language: it often sounds impressive but, all too often, it leaves the reader or listener with little or no idea of what he or she should do next.<\/p>\n

If you want to make something happen, if you want your reader to do something \u2013 or think something \u2013 it is best to use simple concrete language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I once heard the humorist Frank Muir describe classical music as \u2018the kind of music that you keep hoping will turn into a tune.\u2019 I often feel the same way about the utterances of some politicians.\u00a0 If I listen long … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,6,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":773,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772\/revisions\/773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.kiwistreet.co.nz\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}