Meaning of administrationese | Babel Free

Definitions

The jargon used in administration.

colloquial, rare, uncountable

Equivalents

Examples

“It seems strange to have to ask, but suddenly we wonder… […] -why administrators, in their peculiar administrationese, ask for "student input"--and then tell lus^([sic]) our options are foreclosed?”

“Chairs and faculty members quickly learn that deans speak in strange tongues (ICLMs [Induced Course Load Matrices], FTEs [Full-Time Equivalents], and outcomes are administrationese from three different decades).”

“Englishes used in ESL countries tend to be characterized by […] 3. a restricted input, historically often dominated by administrationese, literary English from Shakespeare to Dickens, and biblical language; its application to other text types can result in register misuse and unusual mixes.”

“A stickler for the proper use of the English language, in one of his editorials, FJS commented: “Besides grammatical errors, the language is polluted (even by the ‘educated’) with jargon, clichés, and what I will call administrationese. I cannot count the times I have recently heard ‘going forward.’”

CEFR level