Gobbledygook

                                         (photo: hatawtabloid.com)

Kalisod sabton! One of the things that school paper advisers tell the budding journalists is to write in order to express NOT to impress. You see, the readers must understand what you are writing for them to know, decide, discern, be entertained or even create a stand on the issue at hand. Once the writer comes across, the objectives of the article will be met.

Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo offered a grim picture of the Philippines as it battles to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Virgil Lopez of GMA News (March 27, 2020) reported: Panelo gave the message a day before President Rodrigo Duterte marks his 75th birthday, which the chief executive will be spending in Manila for the first time since he assumed power in June 2016.

“As if these human and natural monstrosities were not enough to test the nerves and leadership of this President, our country is now on the precipice of annihilation as he leads us to face this Armageddon of an unseen lethal invader of a disease that is creeping into our people’s lifeblood, killing them slowly and painfully into their graves,” Panelo said.

In linguistics, "syntax" refers to the rules that govern the ways in which words combine to form phrases, clauses, and sentences. The term "syntax" comes from the Greek, meaning "arrange together." The term is also used to mean the study of the syntactic properties of a language (Nordquist, 2020).

Diction, on the other hand, is the careful selection of words to communicate a message or establish a particular voice or writing style. For example, flowy, figurative language creates colorful prose, while a more formal vocabulary with concise and direct language can help drive home a point.

Again, in journalism, we already know that there are four main types of writing: expository, descriptive, persuasive, and narrative. Each of these writing styles is used for a specific purpose. A single text may include more than one writing style.

When the presidential spokesperson delivered his message, a lot of people got confused due to the choices of words he made and the way the syntax was done. A screen shot from the presentation he made circulated in the social media sites and a few even said they had “nose bleed,” a colloquial term used when one cannot comprehend the words being said in English.

Why do we have to write and speak clearly in times of a pandemic?

Chugh (2020) said: It is important to write responsibly. People are already anxious and your stories can leave a long-lasting impact. Make sure the impact is for the better. Words are powerful. They can change the way a person perceives information. Misinformation spreads like wildfire. The writer needs to stay cautious, stick to the facts, not infuse melodrama or breed theories in their writing.

But why do people integrate a lot of difficult words in their speeches and articles? Is there some kind of superiority when one can use words that he alone can understand? Or, is this really his style of writing?

Lawyers, like Salvador Panelo play up a lot of words when they write their briefs and legal notes. But can we rely on their prose when they address to the majority of the people?

There is a problem of bad legal writing- one that is far more serious than we recognize or are willing to admit. The causes include insufficient education in good writing, carelessness, faulty thinking and reasoning, a failure to appreciate the potential and impact of legal language, an unwillingness to risk new language, and an inability or failure to make the time commitment required for good legal writing (Feerick, 1994).

But then again we knew that these people are well educated. Panelo for instance has an English degree from the University of the Philippines.

The late Miriam Santiago can also rant technical terminologies while they are on session. But she was wise enough to realize that the common “tao” has to understand what she was saying. This can be attested when her books “Stupid is Forever” and “Stupid is Forever More” became instant bestsellers. These contain “hugot” lines and street-smart quips.

When you are writing primarily to inform, use words generally familiar to readers and keep your sentences reasonably short and simple. Write to express, not to impress. The person who can express complex ideas simple is likely to go farther in the world than the person who writes gobbledygook (Escote, 2009).

The bottom-line: In these confusing times, we need to choose the words which can be read or heard by the people. If we are public figures and we have something to write or say, careful choices must be considered. Since words from authorities might be the only crutch of the individuals who are now on the verge of panic.