Some Interesting Word Use at City Hall...We, You, and Us

photo credit : http://www.flickr.com/photos/virtualvillage/2657975401/

Listening to the Mayor's and to city staff responses to questions at the public budget meeting the other night got me thinking again about word use and framing.

I've always, for example, wondered about the distinction people working within city hall often make between themselves and the public. At the budget meeting, the Mayor was explaining the difference between inflation as applied to househould purchases and inflation as applied to city hall purchases. The Mayor said something to the effect of 'when we buy something, it is different to when you buy something. We buy huge amounts of concrete for example. So, inflation in what we buy is different to what you buy as individuals". He is making a very valid point, but I wonder if a more inclusive way of saying the same thing would be "when we buy as a community, the inflation rates are different from when we buy as individuals". Maybe a minor point, but the later sounds much better at least to my ear.

I've also recently heard a councillor say "our bylaw officers", and I wonder if we would lose anything to say "community bylaw officers"? There would probably much to gain.

This, to me, gets away from a them versus us sort of framing and moves us toward thinking more collaboratively.

Comments

[Richard Marken]

Arjun,

Well said. I agree with you; however, I am as much interested in the explicit acknowledgment of their accountability to the public. The change in language would most certainly, over time, produce a positive change in mindset, of both the public and the public service employees.