Forbidden Words: Taboo and the Censoring of Language

Bad language? Jargon, slang, swearing and insult 61
lawyer. At worst, they see legalese as a kind of secret language that conspires to
maintain the exclusivity of the legal profession at their expense. 8
EXPLANATORY NOTE
Regulation 3 of the Local Government (Allowances) Regulations 1974 (‘the 1974
regulations’) (S.I. 1974/447) made provision prescribing the amounts of attendance
and financial loss allowance to members of local authorities. Regulation 3 of the Local
Government (Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 1981 (‘the 1981 regulations’)
(S.I. 1981/180) substituted a new regulation for regulation 3 of the 1974 regulations.
Regulation 3 of the Local Government (Allowances) (Amendment) Regulations 1982
(‘the 1982 regulations’) (S.I. 1982/125) further amends regulation 3 of the 1974
regulations, with effect from 8 March 1982, by increasing the maximum rates of
attendance and financial loss allowances. [Etc.] (Quoted in Cutts and Maher 1984: 57)
Exasperation with jargon like this so-called ‘Explanatory Note’ has given rise
to many social and political movements currently pushing for clear and
simple English, particularly in laws, legal documents (like contracts) and
government documents of all kinds. Similar movements have sprung up
throughout Europe. 9 They have had considerable success in elucidating the
language in insurance and other legal documents foisted onto members of
the public. Nonetheless, problems still arise. Something like the laws of the
imaginary country Brobdingnag, visited by Lemuel Gulliver, would be ideal:
No Law of that Country must exceed in Words the Number of Letters in their
Alphabet; which consists only of two and twenty. But indeed, few of them extend
even to that Length. They are expressed in the most plain and simple Terms, wherein
those people are not Mercurial enough to discover above one Interpretation. And to
write a Comment upon any Law, is a capital Crime. (Swift 1958[1735]: 104)
If only it were possible in our world.
For in-groupers (insiders) jargon is ‘a kind of masonic glue between
different members of the same profession’. 10 Yet it binds not only professionals,
but members of any group who use a particular jargon. The way to show
in-group membership is to use the appropriate jargon. This is why in the
medical and legal professions, for which there is a long and difficult apprenticeship,
there is a consequent feeling amongst in-groupers that they belong to
an exclusive club. Prestige is awarded to those who command the jargon,
which can be used as a form of display. For instance, patients have certain
expectations of their physicians. Most would probably prefer the jargon
expression patellar tendon reflex to everyday knee-jerk, dysmenorrhoea to
period pains, and whereas pityriasis rosea sounds like an expert diagnosis,
rash does not; indeed, after the latter diagnosis, a patient might well wonder
why s/he has bothered to pay for a medical opinion at all! Full command of
medical jargon is viewed as part of the competence of a medical expert. From