Speechless feat of 13-word job title Martin Wainwright Friday February 11 2005 The Guardian
Flushed with pride at producing a well-received "jargon-busting" handbook for employees, a council then dropped its guard and published a job advertisement so obscure that no one applied. While staff settled back to read their guide to plain English, a "clerical error" led to the 13-word title for a short-term post going out to newspapers and on to Lancashire county council's website. It offered the chance to be "temporary part-time libraries north-west inter-library loan business unit administration assistant". After someone reported it to the Plain English Campaign, a substitute was rushed out - "libraries north-west inter-library loan business unit administration assistant" - but this met with equal derision. "This is the longest job title we've seen," said John Lister from the Plain English Campaign. "The previous record-holder was 'Part-time healthcare team foot health gain facilitator'." A county council spokesman said: "This is one that slipped through the net. The actual job title is 'temporary part-time administration assistant'." -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
