I was watching the TV One news tonight (A.K.A The John Key Show - our Prime Minister seems to command a huge number of stories) and almost choked on my dinner.
John Key being interviewed for the umpteenth story used the phrase 'binarychoice', as in - the situation required a yes or no answer.
Aaarrrgggghhhhhhhh!!
I thought aboutTim Philips in Talk Normal when he says that jargon is used to exclude us and cover lies...to create a cult like atmosphere.
I've not considered politicans to be a cult before, but it seems an appropriate label if a politician like Key uses a phrase like 'binary choice' as if it is part of normal, everyday speech.
Who is he talking to on a daily basis that he should utter such a thing?
The Lead Adviser chaps and chapettes I worked with in the Middle East gave me a book as a going away present. Talk Normal by Tim Phillips is subtitled 'stop the business speak, jargon and waffle'.
Waiting on Waiheke Island in Auckland for the China adventure to begin has given me a chance to catch up on my reading.
My friends weren't taking the piss, but giving me a book they knew I'd agree with.
Sure enough the stance taken by Phillips is to rid the world of weasel words that get in the way of mass communication. For instance - problems are no longer called that, they are issues, challenges or (even worse) opportunities.
My time as an education consultant exposed me to a different level of jargon and weasel words. I got heartily sick of hearing that I worked in a challenging environment!
I read Tim's chapter on 'How HR ruined your life' with a smile on my face.
He's right - HR is full of fake-happy gibberish. From personnel managers to talent co-ordinators in under three moves! When applying for a job we must be onboard with being passionate role players.and so on into oblivion.
I wish I could say that the aviation world was any better than education but, if anything, it's worse. How will I cope?
I've just returned from a full on week in Christchurch, learning all about aviation English from Colin Davis and the kind folks at Airways New Zealand http://www.airways.co.nz/index.asp.
Colin and my fellow student Mike.
My Wozza's Place blog has details on my new career path in Wuxi, China. Before I can embark on that I needed to be certificated in Aviation English teaching by Colin,
This meant a flight to Christchurch early on Monday morning to the headquarters of Airways NZ. I had no idea what a huge concern this is. TI noticed their organisational chart on the wall and it was vast; made Cognition Education look like a corner dairy in comparison.
Day one of the course and we are analysing air crash disasters! Gulp! Anyone with even a cursory knowledge of your beloved blogger knows what a nervous flyer I am. Yes - since 2003 I have flown all over the world but that's thanks to red wine, diazepan, and a carpe diem attitude.
The blogger and the trainer.
So to say this was just a teensy weensy bit out of my comfort zone is like saying Usain Bolt can run a bit.
After a while I shrugged it off and started concentrating on learning as much as I could about aviation terms in three days. I slept well each night, believe me.
The fourth day was about putting my new knowledge into practice with some Japanese students from the Christchurch flight training school. A lovely bunch they were too. I took three sessions and managed to gain my certification.
This is a companion post to one I did on my Wozza's Place blog (http://www.wozzasplace.blogspot.com/) to farewell my amigos and fellow Cognition Education workers from Al Ain and Abu Dhabi. Contracts come and contracts go and most of the crew is heading off for pastures new or pastures familiar in Nu Zild.
To commemorate/celebrate I decided to head into the archives and chuck down some visuals of an exciting and very fulfilling part of my life. I met some exceptional, inspirational, and often gifted people during my three years working in Qatar and the UAE and I want to wish them good luck - whether they are staying in the Middle Eastern sandpit or making a new start somewhere else.
And to my brothers at Ali bin Abi Taleb School - I certainly miss you guys!
Graysy and Deno looking relieved to have Wozza on the team
Hisham and I try to locate Nu Zild on the big map
The Qatar crew enjoy a late breakfast
CJ doesn't believe Deno and Larry's instructions re the ablutions
Cogs and local Principals (Ally blanks me shock)
At Shakespeare's with the dream team
Hassan the art teacher
Adbulla commands the mic shock!
Nidal with the shy and withdrawn Adbulla
CJ trying and failing to locate the picture of Sheikh Zayed
Mohammed waits for Pete and Maggie to test the food
CJ - fearless leader - boldly samples the cake first
Cognition's failure to supply a desk does not deter Johnny
CJ asking local just where does he think his kandoora is!
I'm reading Joe Bennett's Where Underpants Come From at the moment. It's subtitled 'From checkout to cotton field - travels through the new China'.
I'm not really a fan of his work. He's usually trying too hard to be funny in a clever way, whereas a great travel writer (clearly he aspires to Bill Bryson status) is just funny in an effortless way and informative in a clever way.
In the absence of any other amusing travel writing on China though - he's it.
I'm six chapters in an so far he hasn't moved from Shanghai. Chapter 6 was solely concerned with trying to make a dinner experience with a Chinese couple witty.
He does make some interesting points though which elucidate my own thoughts and knowledge of China. We both know little to nothing about it, beyond that there are a phenomenal number of people in China (1.4 billion I think), it's the world's producer of just about everything we buy, and it's an ancient land - 3,000 years and counting (at least, I think).
So we have ignorance in common.
With that in mind I watched an interesting TED talks item which clued me into the new generation of Chinese and the new China better than Joe could manage (in 95 pages so far). It also answered a few of my questions about blogging in the new China. Enjoy!
I was reading an interview recently on McKinsey Quarterly with a CEO (Moya Greene) who admitted that he no longer read novels -
I’ve usually got three or four books on the go. I’ve given up on novels. I can’t get through them no matter how good they are; there’s no way I’ll finish before there’s some kind of interruption. So I read poetry now: the collected works of Ted Hughes, Emily Dickinson. I’m working my way through Philip Larkin. You can take a Larkin poem and read it on the bus in 15 minutes. The good ones stay with you and will come back to you. That’s what I like about poetry: you get a little shot of mental protein without a lot of time.
I laughed out loud when I read this, but I decided to give it a shot nonetheless. Here's my little shot of mental protein for today:
Poetry Of Departures by Philip Larkin
Sometimes you hear, fifth-hand,
As epitaph:
He chucked up everything
And just cleared off,
And always the voice will sound
Certain you approve
This audacious, purifying,
Elemental move.
And they are right, I think.
We all hate home
And having to be there:
I detect my room,
It's specially-chosen junk,
The good books, the good bed,
And my life, in perfect order:
So to hear it said
He walked out on the whole crowd
Leaves me flushed and stirred,
Like Then she undid her dress
Or Take that you bastard;
Surely I can, if he did?
And that helps me to stay
Sober and industrious.
But I'd go today,
Yes, swagger the nut-strewn roads,
Crouch in the fo'c'sle
Stubbly with goodness, if
It weren't so artificial,
Such a deliberate step backwards
To create an object:
Books; china; a life
Reprehensibly perfect.
