Plain English Campaign

Examples

We are often asked if we have any examples of communication at its worst. If you are looking for past Golden Bull winners or ridiculous 'management speak' such as 'feedforward', or you merely want to create your own phrase using our 'Gobbledygook generator', this section of the site will help you. We are always looking to add to our archives. If you come across a piece of writing that is particularly confusing, full of jargon or just plain funny, please send it in to us.

Before and after

This section shows you the benefits of plain English by translating long-winded writing into clear writing. Why use two words when one will do?

Clichés

This section lists the 'most-annoying cliches', according to a survey we carried out in 2004.

Gobbledygook generator

Try out our gobbledygook generator and create some new gobbledygook - just make sure you never publish it!

Golden Bull archive

This archive contains a complete list of all our Golden Bull winners, together with the offending text.

Long sentences

This section gives two examples of long sentences and some facts relating to long sentences.

Management speak

The language used in offices up and down the country, and indeed around the world, this section contains a list of phrases to try to avoid.


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