Friday, September 16, 2022
Be positive, be precise, and don't use Oxford commas
The new Health Secretary has got off to a flying start with a memo that gives the impression that she is all style and no substance.
As the Guardian reports, a memo from Thérèse Coffey to staff at the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), urged officials to “be positive” in their missives to their political boss, who is also Liz Truss’s deputy prime minister, to avoid jargon when communicating with her, and not to use Oxford commas:
Health officials told the Financial Times, which first reported on the memo, that they found it “super patronising”, both in terms of framing communications in positive ways, and avoiding the Oxford comma.
Department sources confirmed the existence of the document, published on the DHSC’s intranet, saying this was not uncommon when new ministers arrived. However, they claimed it was prepared without Coffey’s knowledge, with one saying there had possibly been “a bit of over eagerness” in the content.
Coffey has previously taken to social media to deride the Oxford comma, the grammatically contentious practice in which a comma is sometimes used to separate the penultimate and last words in a list of terms, in 2015 calling it “one of my pet hates”.
According to the FT, the document, titled: New secretary of state ways of working preferences, asked staff to “be precise” and also “be positive – if we have done something good, let us say so and avoid double negatives”.
A person described as having “knowledge of the mood at the UKHSA” told the paper the email was seen as “super patronising “, adding: “It does make you consider if you’re in the right place when a new minister comes in with this.”
One senior public health official said staff view the advice on Oxford commas as “extremely patronising”.
Personally, I am neutral about the Oxford comma, and I have had to reign in my disapproval of contractions since I started to write novels. I am though obsessive about the correct use of apostrophes. However, if I were Health Secretary, I am sure I would find more important things to do than lecture staff on the use of grammar.
Health officials told the Financial Times, which first reported on the memo, that they found it “super patronising”, both in terms of framing communications in positive ways, and avoiding the Oxford comma.
Department sources confirmed the existence of the document, published on the DHSC’s intranet, saying this was not uncommon when new ministers arrived. However, they claimed it was prepared without Coffey’s knowledge, with one saying there had possibly been “a bit of over eagerness” in the content.
Coffey has previously taken to social media to deride the Oxford comma, the grammatically contentious practice in which a comma is sometimes used to separate the penultimate and last words in a list of terms, in 2015 calling it “one of my pet hates”.
According to the FT, the document, titled: New secretary of state ways of working preferences, asked staff to “be precise” and also “be positive – if we have done something good, let us say so and avoid double negatives”.
A person described as having “knowledge of the mood at the UKHSA” told the paper the email was seen as “super patronising “, adding: “It does make you consider if you’re in the right place when a new minister comes in with this.”
One senior public health official said staff view the advice on Oxford commas as “extremely patronising”.
Personally, I am neutral about the Oxford comma, and I have had to reign in my disapproval of contractions since I started to write novels. I am though obsessive about the correct use of apostrophes. However, if I were Health Secretary, I am sure I would find more important things to do than lecture staff on the use of grammar.
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Yes, it is surely more important to communicate with the public (or "service users" the jargon). I don't know what Health is like, but there have been too many reports of citizens writing, by letter or email, and receiving no reply or being kept up to date on matters contained in their communication.
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