GOVLISH

That special language the government speaks

Jan 16, 2025

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What is Govlish? In our opinion, it is the mutilation of the English language to make something sound like something else. One might say speaking out of both sides of your mouth. What is said many times is not what is meant.

A website developer, who has developed govlish.com in hopes of selling subscriptions to definitions of government terminology describes Govlish as the specialized language used by government.

The reality is Govlish is a term used to describe the complex, jargon-filled language often associated with government documents, policies, and communications. It combines “government” and “English” to highlight the bureaucratic and sometimes convoluted way information is presented in official contexts.

Govlish can include:

Acronyms and abbreviations: Such as “FEMA” (Federal Emergency Management Agency) or “FOIA” (Freedom of Information Act).
Technical terms: Words or phrases that are specific to legal, legislative, or administrative processes.
Ambiguity or vagueness: Wording that may be difficult for the average person to understand without specialized knowledge.
Passive voice: Sentences structured in ways that obscure who is responsible for an action.

Critics often argue that Govlish creates barriers to understanding for the general public, while supporters may claim that such language is necessary to precisely describe complex governmental concepts and procedures. Efforts to make government communication clearer and more accessible, such as the US Plain Language Guidelines, aim to reduce the prevalence of Govlish.

Like any other profession, the government has words they use to communicate with each other both verbally and in writing. Those not familiar with the terms may misunderstand the actual meaning when these words are used.

Usually the terms used in a profession are unique, so an outsider may not understand but they won’t be mislead. When the term is a word in common use whose meaning is vastly different it follows there is intent to disguise meaning or to mislead those outside the profession if it is used in a way that does not define the usage. Govlish is a language whose intent is to mislead.

Examples are easy to find.

Start with the federal budget; stating there is no increase in a line item should mean that item is the same as it was last year, but in reality no increase actually means that the current budget amount will be increased by an amount that is listed in the budget; in effect the government gives itself a cost-of-living increase and then misleads taxpayers by saying there is no increase. When a politician tells you they are “holding the line” they really mean there is an undocumented increase.

Another example is found at the state level. Recently the government in Arkansas changed the allowable uses for road funds. The original definition was that road funds were to be used for roads. Not really difficult to understand that, but to satisfy a politician’s need to pander to voters the definition of road funds was changed and includes roads and transportation costs. Now road funds will build roads and allow cities to allocate funds to special interest groups like senior citizen centers, or the Boys and Girls Club for vans, and staff to drive them. When you are asked to budget money for roads you may also be subsidizing non-government entities that transport people on those roads.

Then there are the city government’s misleading statements. Here in Conway, several years ago, the city struggled through a financial crisis caused by what was characterized as “a mistake.” The mistake was that two million dollars of reserve funds were reported as available for use, and the city council promptly spent it. When the city government realized the problem there was a very public statement about cost containment. Department heads met and produced budget changes that would save significant money. The problem is they took items like maintenance and repair out of their budgets and when these tasks needed to be performed they were authorized as an “emergency.”

What the city said was not what the city did, and the city’s statements made a lot of people feel the city was working very hard to do the right thing, but there was no real change.

At the same time the city was preparing to open a new expo center. The mayor at that time, in classic Govlish, stated that the expo center would open for six months, and if it wasn’t paying its way it would be closed.

One would think “paying its own way” would mean just that; paying salaries, maintenance, utilities, and the note that funded construction. Not so. The expo center did not pay construction costs. When the question was asked why construction costs were not included in “paying its own way” we were told that the citizens approved the bond issue, so they’ve agreed to pay that portion. Nonsense. If you decided to open a business and gave it six months to “pay its own way” the expectation is that it would pay all its bills, not everything except the rent. Only in Govlish do words not mean what they seem to mean.

Govlish will only work if it is not questioned. If something doesn’t seem logical, ask for clarification. Any elected official who will not answer a question clearly and without using specialized or misleading words doesn’t really want your vote.

Citizens should take every opportunity to ask their elected officials and bureaucrats the actual effect of a resolution, or ordinance, or bill, or regulation will be. Take nothing at face value, because those in power are counting on your ignorance of what they are really doing to implement their agenda.

Never forget you have one of the most powerful tools to fight government lying (that’s what it is, after all), and that’s FOIA. That’s also why government will take every opportunity to weaken FOIA if they can.

We can’t ask often enough that you contribute to a charity or organization that is taking care of the hurricane victims. Winter is here and people still need help. We recommend Samaritan’s Purse or Mercury One as already on the ground and doing excellent work. Thank you.

Unfortunately it looks as if Los Angeles will be added to the disaster mix pretty quickly. As soon as there’s demonstrated need from the private sector, we’ll include it here.

If you like what you see here, you’ll find more at Jack’s Substack.