Consulting Journal: Writing - Sesquipedalianism

Writing: Sesquipedalianism

by David Blakey

The long word for the use of long words introduces this article on clarity and opacity and consultants' weasel words.

[Monday 15 October 2001]

Sesquipedalianism is the condition of using long words. It was inevitable that there would be a long word for the condition of using long words. Consultants do tend to use long words. Some consultants are sesquipedalian.

Now, there are two circumstances in which people use long words when shorter words would do just as well.

Clarity

The first of these circumstances is clarity. A single word can be used instead of a number of shorter words because the meaning of the long word is precise and succinct.

There are two ways in which long words can be used for clarity. The first is the one that applies to ‘extrapolation’ and ‘implementation’. The single long word is understood by a normal user of the language. It can be said that everyone knows what they mean.

The second way in which long words can be used for clarity is when the writer defines each long word. I defined ‘sesquipedalian’ in the first sentence of this article, and it is acceptable for me to use it throughout the rest of the article. We now have a common understanding of what it means.

Opacity

The second circumstance of consultants using long words is when they want to avoid saying something short and simple, especially in one single short and simple word.

An example of this is ‘facilitate’. Some consultants never make something easy for their clients; they facilitate. ‘To facilitate’ means ‘to make easy’, and that is exactly what consultants can do on some assignments: they make things easier for their clients. It might be better if they spoke - and wrote - about making things easier rather than facilitating them.

The reason for using ‘facilitate’ rather than ‘make easy’ is to avoid making a commitment. If I say to a client that I shall make easier their implementation of a new system, then they expect the implementation to be easier for them than it might have been without me. If I say to a client that I shall facilitate their implementation, then they expect me to do something, and they expect that I shall make it easier for them, but they are less likely to complain if I do not.

Consultants use such words for added opacity rather than clarity.

The interesting characteristic of these opaque words is that not all of them are long. Some are quite short. As an example, consider the word ‘enable’. It actually means to ‘make possible’, but some consultants consider that this implies a commitment from them that they may not be able to achieve. So they use ‘enable’ instead, which is certainly more brief but also more opaque.

Here are some more of these ‘weasel’ words.

assess: When consultants ‘assess’ a situation, they do not actually look at the entire situation. Instead they check which of their standard scenarios best fits the situation. They then describe that standard scenario, using a standard form of words. ‘To assess’ therefore means ‘to match to an existing model’ to these consultants. ‘Assessment’ occurs quite often in assignments to work out the ‘best practice’ for a client.
determine: ‘To determine’ is used instead of ‘to work out’, so some consultants will ‘determine best practice’. ‘Determine’ is a lovely word for consultants, as its dictionary meanings include ‘limit’, ‘define’, ‘decide’ and ‘resolve’. So, when consultants say that they will ‘determine the best course of action’, they may appear to be deciding what that course will be, while they are actually only defining the boundaries of any potential course of action. And they may be legally correct in doing it.
establish: Consultants can ‘establish’ policies or procedures. While, to you and me, to ‘establish’ means to ‘set up’ or to ‘put into operation’, to many consultants it means to ‘document’. There is an implication that the policies will be documented and then put into operation; in fact, they will be documented and then abandoned.
harness: This is used most often in statements such as: ‘You will be able to harness our expertise.’ The dictionary definition for this context is to ‘control and make use of’. In fact, clients will be able to do nothing of the kind. The expertise used on any assignment will not be controlled by the client and the client will not have free access to it. The consultants' meaning is to ‘get some benefit from’.
substantiate: Consultants may ‘substantiate your situation’. This does not mean that the consultants will work from first principles to discover what your situation is. It means that they will provide proof to you that your beliefs are correct. A shorter and simpler way of saying what they will do is that they will ‘rubber-stamp’ your own statements.

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