Today’s corporations, news media, education departments--and, perhaps most dangerously,politicians--speak to us and to each other in cliched,impenetrable, lifeless babble. Toni Morrison has called it the disabled and disabling language of the powerful, evacuated language, and dead language. Orwell called it anesthetic language.In Death Sentences, Don Watson takes up the fight against it: the pestilence of bullet points, the dearth of verbs, the buzzwords, the weasel words and cant, the Newspeak of a kind Orwell could not have imagined.Published to rave reviews in Australia in November 2003, Death Sentences gained a massive following among the legions of bright, sensitive people who Could Not Take It Anymore. More than a year later,it was still a national bestseller.

When was the last time you heard a politician use words that rang with truth and meaning? Do your eyes glaze over when you read a letter from your bank or insurance company addressing you as a val-ued customer? Does your mind shut down when your employer starts talking about making a commitment going forwards or enhancing your key competencies? Are you enervated by in terms of, irri-tated by impactful, infuriated by downsizing,rightsizing, decruiting, and dejobbing? Does business process re-engineering and attriting fail to give you ramp-up--in terms of your personal lifestyle?

Today’s corporations, news media, education departments--and, perhaps most dangerously,politicians--speak to us and to each other in cliched,impenetrable, lifeless babble. Toni Morrison has called it the disabled and disabling language of the powerful, evacuated language, and dead language. Orwell called it anesthetic language.In Death Sentences, Don Watson takes up the fight against it: the pestilence of bullet points, the dearth of verbs, the buzzwords, the weasel words and cant, the Newspeak of a kind Orwell could not have imagined.Published to rave reviews in Australia in November 2003, Death Sentences gained a massive following among the legions of bright, sensitive people who Could Not Take It Anymore. More than a year later,it was still a national bestseller.

Preface vii

Introduction xvii

CHAPTER 1.

The Dark and Impenetrable Thicket

CHAPTER 2.

Core Commitments Going Forward 39

CHAPTER 3.

The Post-Truth Environment 87

Conclusion 143

Glossary 151

Acknowledgments 169

Bibliography 171