In What Badger Calls: A Case Study
When I was younger, I remember my father taking me over to my grandparents after school. This was unusual since after school I would usually go to daycare until one of my parents could pick me up. At my grandparents, my father sat with my grandfather for a few hours and tried to explain to him what a paper from the Veterans Benefits Administration said. Now my grandfather can be a difficult person, so even after my dad explained to him what the letter was trying to say, he still insisted upon calling the local office to “double check”. By the end of this whole encounter, my father had taken unnecessary time off of work and lost money and the worker at the local office had their time wasted as well because of unclear bureaucratic language. In
…show more content…
One of these include wasting time, both that of the worker and the person who doesn’t understand what is being said. When a person receives a paper from the government that they do not understand, they are going to either call the agencies’ office or completely ignore the paper. Both of which are not a good thing. When calls are made to offices concerning what papers say, the workers time is taken up explaining information that would have been understood if written more clear and concise. This only leaves a small amount of time for these workers to get actual work done. La Corte notes “When we just talk in a way that takes our language, government language, and throws it out, and talk in language everyone understands, we get a whole lot more done” (La Corte 83). Most people make calls when they do not understand something, but there are people who choose to ignore unclear letters. Take for instance this example from La Corte. She states that “the Department of Revenue tripled the number of businesses paying the ‘use tax,’ a widely ignored equivalent of sales tax on products purchased out of state” (La Corte 82). They brought in an extra $800,000 in two years just by rewording one letter using clearer English. This rewording example brings us to our next consequence of “terrible writing”, which is that it costs a large amount of money. When a person calls up an office because they …show more content…
Since all of their peers are speaking and writing in this way, people in the government feel like they must continue to use unclear English so they can fit in with their peers. La Corte states, “It’s almost as if we have hundreds of different tribes out there with different languages… Knowing the language of that tribe is essential to belonging to it” (La Corte 83). Being able to speak like the other people around you gives people a sense of pride and belonging. If they stop communication in such a way, they may feel as if they no longer belong in that “group” anymore. Even though unclear language can separate the people from the government and threaten the democratic process, the government still is hesitant to change its ways. To them, it is almost like admitting they are wrong, which the government has a known history of not doing too often. In her essay, Badger quotes, “The government has never figured out how much poor communication costs because it doesn’t want to admit that it communicates poorly” (Badger 81). If the government and the bureaucrats who work for it weren’t so self-important, then clear language might be used
One of these include wasting time, both that of the worker and the person who doesn’t understand what is being said. When a person receives a paper from the government that they do not understand, they are going to either call the agencies’ office or completely ignore the paper. Both of which are not a good thing. When calls are made to offices concerning what papers say, the workers time is taken up explaining information that would have been understood if written more clear and concise. This only leaves a small amount of time for these workers to get actual work done. La Corte notes “When we just talk in a way that takes our language, government language, and throws it out, and talk in language everyone understands, we get a whole lot more done” (La Corte 83). Most people make calls when they do not understand something, but there are people who choose to ignore unclear letters. Take for instance this example from La Corte. She states that “the Department of Revenue tripled the number of businesses paying the ‘use tax,’ a widely ignored equivalent of sales tax on products purchased out of state” (La Corte 82). They brought in an extra $800,000 in two years just by rewording one letter using clearer English. This rewording example brings us to our next consequence of “terrible writing”, which is that it costs a large amount of money. When a person calls up an office because they …show more content…
Since all of their peers are speaking and writing in this way, people in the government feel like they must continue to use unclear English so they can fit in with their peers. La Corte states, “It’s almost as if we have hundreds of different tribes out there with different languages… Knowing the language of that tribe is essential to belonging to it” (La Corte 83). Being able to speak like the other people around you gives people a sense of pride and belonging. If they stop communication in such a way, they may feel as if they no longer belong in that “group” anymore. Even though unclear language can separate the people from the government and threaten the democratic process, the government still is hesitant to change its ways. To them, it is almost like admitting they are wrong, which the government has a known history of not doing too often. In her essay, Badger quotes, “The government has never figured out how much poor communication costs because it doesn’t want to admit that it communicates poorly” (Badger 81). If the government and the bureaucrats who work for it weren’t so self-important, then clear language might be used