House style: news and web lingo as explained to an Iraqi

World desk newsgathering editor Chris Booth provides an insight into the internal translation service often needed at the BBC.

In an effort to explain emails from London to our local staff, the BBC Baghdad bureau has found itself compiling a lexicon of managerial phrases and neologisms. We were surprised to discover quite how long the list has grown.

Barely a day passes without receiving an email littered with strange and contorted specimens of the English language. Our staff have asked why managers in the BBC (of all places!) use them; we aren't sure what to say.

But if you, like our local staff, are puzzled, yet hope, going forward, to grip and celebrate the diversity of the management offer across directorates, you might wish to leverage the granular propositions below.

Please add your own. You will be doing a kind service to mystified locally hired colleagues.

Regards,

BBC Baghdad

rolling out - means neither more nor less than 'introducing', but with greater accompanying noise

best practice - sometimes, but not always, a synonym for 'common sense'

paradigm - meaning 'example'

paradigm shift - an exemplary item of old-fashioned women's underwear

texture - meaning sound effects, properly mixed, we presume

granular - meaning ... we know not what

multiplatform - in the BBC context, unrelated to footwear or rail services

to socialise a problem - to talk things over, though rarely face to face, these days, when avoidable

an issue - used as a euphemism for 'problem', ranging in scale from broken carpet tiles to imminent legal catastrophes

the future is now - demonstrably and, by definition, false; except in the context of theoretical physics

user-generated content - 'things sent in' - by the enthusiastic, the naïve and the unhinged among the audience

going forward - meaning 'in future'

putting news first - doing your job without undue attention to frocks, graphics and hair dye

to grip - meaning 'to deal with' or 'take responsibility for', we think

to relish - 'to be enthusiastic about', sometimes under duress

to champion - 'to promote', in a woolly sort of way

celebrate - used with a sense of corporate, yet poorly defined, collective warm-feeling

diversity - in the context of employment policy, generally. Can be relished, celebrated and championed simultaneously, when appropriate (see above)

to showcase - to draw attention to, often in the hope of gaining an award for display in said item of furniture

multimedia proposition - the output - i.e. what we do for a living

the BBC's media offer - ditto

to deliver - used in preference to the simpler verbs 'to make' and 'produce' and used in a more 'granular' manner (see above)

the significance agenda - stories that matter more than others

to cascade - to hand out, distribute, forward, with a uniquely managerial flourish

cross-departmental stakeholders - interested parties, rather than annoyed vampire hunters

to 'own' the story - to do rather better than the opposition, particularly when enjoying vastly superior resources

emerging truth - a euphemism for reporting unsubstantiated rumour in case it turns out to be true

contextualising sequences - library footage

robust - may be used within management prose at will, since generally syntactically redundant

focused conversation - a bollocking, delivered with a thin smile over a cappuccino

Copyright: Baghdad Lexicographical Institute (South). All rights reserved.