Thursday, September 20, 2007

Taking the piece/piste

You may have heard Matthew Parris's superb dissection of political jargon on Radio 4, 'Not my words, Mr Speaker'. It concluded last night with an examination of the apparently meaningless phrase "Across the piece". I have misheard it a number of times in the Assembly as "Across the piste" which I had assumed to be a skiing phrase. Turns out I am not the only one to make that mistake. Anyway, I have decided to include it - whatever it is and whatever it may mean - in my five least favourite phrases which one hears flogged to death on a seemingly daily basis in Cardiff Bay.

  1. Across the piste/piece.
  2. In terms of.
  3. Issues around.
  4. Practitioner.
  5. Service delivery.

No room for "clinician" (doctor) or "patient pathway" (seeing the doctor).

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