Feature
Roundabout expressions
Dr Binoy Barman
When people put their thoughts into words, they often face the challenge of multiplicity of expressive means. As there are many ways for expressing a single idea, they have to choose from the multiple linguistic means at their disposal. An idea can be expressed directly or indirectly, with a single word or many words, with simple or complex structure. Some people tend to express their ideas in a roundabout way rather than in a straight fashion. Roundabout expressions, in most of the cases, come out from the conscious effort of a speaker. He/she knows well what is straight and what is winding. He/she opts for the latter either for hiding his/her true thought or for demonstrating his/her power of eloquence. Roundabout expressions blur the meaning intended by the speaker, often perplexing the hearer. Vividity may be lost in the haze of gobbledygook. It is a genuine risk.
Roundabout expression is nevertheless necessary in certain situations. Creative writers exercise it for having desired effects on the readers. Poetry in a sense is the result of roundabout way of talking. Words are structured in such a crafty way that they give rise to special meaning riding over familiar denotation. 'The softly shining round ball hanging against the night sky' will undoubtedly be more appealing than just 'moon' to a reader having a taste of poetry. Poets create new discourse charged with emotion, going beyond dictionary definitions of words. They create uncommon meaning with common words.
In some verbose styles of writing, complex and lengthy expressions are preferred. For example, 'at this point in time' is used instead of 'now', 'initiate a dialogue' instead of 'talk' and 'exercise options' instead of 'choose'. But in many other cases this kind of verbosity is carefully avoided. Journalists, for examples, are trained to avoid wordy expressions and use the slender forms. They are advised to use 'for' for 'for a period of', 'with' for 'in conjunction with' 'to' for 'in order to', 'without' for 'in the absence of', 'many' for 'a large number of' 'if' for 'in the event of' 'except' for 'with the exception of' 'all' for 'the whole range of' and so on. Thus they develop a sense of using precise expressions avoiding superfluous ones.
Roundabout expressions are also used for bypassing an embarrassing subject, to minimise the harshness of situation. This is sometimes called euphemism. To sugar-coat unpleasant information, 'die' is replaced with 'pass away' and 'kill' with 'do away with'. You never say a person 'blind', rather you say 'visually challenged' or never say 'dumb' but 'mentally retarded'. Indicating physical or mental defects expressly may be humiliating for the persons having such problems. This is why Political Correctness Movement always advocates using euphemism to avoid all sorts of discrimination shown by language. So you use 'domestic aid' instead of 'servant' and 'flight attendant' instead of 'steward/stewardess'. Take care that nobody is offended by 'what comes out through your lips'. (Again a roundabout expression! I could simply use 'your words', couldn't I?)
Politicians and diplomats are said to be masters of roundabout expressions. Whatever politicians do, they do for the wellbeing of the nation. They do not 'evict people from slums' but they 'beautify city', they do not 'increase tax' but they 'enhance revenue' and they do not 'knock richshaw-pullers out of streets' but they conduct a 'cleansing operation'. Similarly, they do not 'beg votes from voters' but they only 'seek their blessings' and after being elected they do not 'take bribe' but 'collect fund' for party or organisation. In diplomat's tongue, 'attack on a country' becomes 'military campaign', and 'civilian casualties' become 'collateral damage'. In the battle field the first firing is 'pre-emptive strike' and a fellow warrior is accidentally killed by 'friendly fire'. All these in fact present truth in a different (if not distorted) way.
US President George W Bush has acquired reputation (or notoriety) for his clever use of roundabout expressions. In 2007 he was nominated for 'Foot in Mouth Award' which is given for baffling quotes by public figures, that is, the special skill to express something easy in the most complicated way. The award is given by the Plain English Campaign every year to a deserving person, with derision, symbolically, to discourage people to use roundabout expressions. This year Steve McClaren, former manager of English football team, got the award, defeating Mr Bush. He clinched the award for his comment on football star Wayne Rooney: “He is inexperienced but he's experienced in terms of what he's been through.” Do you get what he means? Probably he means to say, “Rooney is a skilled footballer!”
There is always a struggle between plain language and roundabout language. The former facilitates communication while the latter may lead to communication deadlock. Everybody understands plain language easily but not roundabout language, which demands an elevated linguistic sense of the speaker as well as listener. Plain language is desired in the discussions of science and commerce although roundabout language is the norm in creative work. Plain language is the carrier of clarity while roundabout language results in obscurity and ambiguity. Therefore, in everyday communication, where clarity is the most sought-after principle, plain expressions should be used, avoiding the roundabout alternatives as much as possible.
(The writer is Assistant Professor, English, Bangladesh University.)
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