International House London, a language school, has published a guide to what British colleagues say at work and what they mean.
I just have a few comments: Please rewrite this.
I’m not sure about that: You are definitely wrong.
Perhaps you would like to think about: You really need to think about.
We have a bit of a problem: We have a major problem.
In a speech to the barristers of the Western Circuit, reported in the Law Society Gazette, the barrister Michael Bowes QC translated what English judges say in court.
I have your point: Enough!
Your Lordship has the point: If you don’t understand it now, you never will.
British job applicants know the wording of a rejection letter. The careers service of the University of Nottingham quotes a typical one: “We regret to inform you that on this occasion you have been unsuccessful.”
The words on this occasion suggest that the next application might succeed. The message is a clear no.
In January 2020, the employee benefits company Perkbox published a survey of 1,928 employed adults in the United Kingdom on the most irritating phrases in work emails. “Just looping in” was named by 37 percent, “As per my last email” by 33 percent, “Any updates on this?” by 24 percent and “Just checking in” by 19 percent.
In English courts, the word “respect” is a familiar signal of disagreement. The former President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, has described an advocate who started an answer to his point with the words “My Lord, with the very greatest respect possible.” He left it to his audience to imagine what the advocate thought of the point.
In 2022, linguists from Nottingham Trent University and De Montfort University published a study of the word in court. In two hearings, the barristers David Pannick and James Eadie used “respect,” “respectful” and “respectfully” 230 times between them. The study found that the word is mostly used sincerely, when barristers disagree with judges, so that they do not appear to undermine the judge’s status.
On 1 May 1996, Mark Adams, a private secretary at 10 Downing Street, sent the Department of Health a letter that an MP had written to the prime minister. His covering note read: “I should be grateful if you would provide a draft reply for the Prime Minister’s signature, to reach this office by 15 May.”
In British English, a request is often phrased so that it can be refused, even when it cannot.
Would you mind: Please do this.
I don’t suppose you could: I need you to do this.
If it’s not too much trouble: Do this.
When you get a chance: Soon, probably today.
Sorry to bother you: I need something from you.
Just a quick one: A request follows.
In September 2014, days before the referendum on Scottish independence, Queen Elizabeth II spoke to a well-wisher outside Crathie Kirk, the church near Balmoral, after a Sunday service. She said: “Well, I hope people will think very carefully about the future.”
The remark did not mention the referendum or either side.
In 2019, the former prime minister David Cameron said in a BBC documentary that he had asked whether the Queen might help. He had hoped for “just a raising of the eyebrow even you know, a quarter of an inch.”
On 9 March 2021, Buckingham Palace issued a statement on behalf of the Queen after Prince Harry and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, had made allegations of racism in a television interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The statement said: “The issues raised, particularly that of race, are concerning. While some recollections may vary, they are taken very seriously and will be addressed by the family privately.”
In the House of Commons, members may not accuse one another of lying. A Speaker’s ruling of 1973, citing Erskine May, the guide to parliamentary procedure, listed “charges of deliberate falsehood” as unparliamentary. The ruling added: “Good temper and moderation are the characteristics of parliamentary language.”
The rule produced its own vocabulary. On 22 February 1906, Winston Churchill, then Under-Secretary for the Colonies, was asked whether the government condoned slavery of Chinese laborers in the Transvaal. He replied that the word slavery “in its full sense could not be applied without a risk of terminological inexactitude.” Terminological inexactitude is still used as a polite word for a lie.
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