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The problem with double-speak and how I solve it

Terry Andrew Dunn
4 min readJan 6, 2021

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Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

I watched parliamentary question time on TV today with MPs (Members of Parliament) firing questions at Gavin Williamson, the education minister. It’s always full of double-speak. Why don’t MPs say what they really mean? They never do. Parliament is full of rituals and rules but lacks honesty.

While watching the exchanges my imagination took over and presented me with the following funny scenario:

So an irate MP on a zoom call criticises Gavin. He stands up and replies:

I would like to thank the honourable gentleman for calling me a prize plonker. And while I recognise his efforts to get me fired, I will be asking my department to hire a hitman to bump him off”

Later that day in №10. “Prime minister, will you sanction a hitman to bump off the MP who called me a prize plonker today in PMs question time?”

Boris replies, “Oh, that’s not a good idea Gavin. Why don’t you just strip him naked and hang him upside down from a tree? That ought to teach him a lesson. Haw haw”

It isn’t just in parliament that we witness double-speak. I got it from my partner for years. She never really meant what she said. There was always a hidden meaning, which of course, I never understood. So the double-speak didn’t work on me. It just left me scratching my…

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Terry Andrew Dunn
Terry Andrew Dunn

Written by Terry Andrew Dunn

I'm obsessed with health and feeling good. Nutrition, sleep, exercise all play their part. But energy is fundamental to a healthy life.

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