administrationese

From administration +‎ -ese.

• IPA^(key): /ədmɪnəˌstɹejʃəˈniːz/

• Audio (Southern England):

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administrationese (uncountable)

1. (rare, colloquial) The jargon used in administration.

   Synonyms: administrationspeak, adminspeak, adminese

   • 1977 December 16, “Commentary”, in The Goucher Weekly‎^[1], volume 63, number 12, page 2:

     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?

   • 1994 April 1, Dealing With the Dean, “Dealing With the Dean”, in ADFL Bulletin‎^[2], volume 25, number 3, →DOI, page 12b of 11–16:

     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).

   • 1997 September 1, Manfred Görlach, “Varieties of English world-wide: where we stand”, in Links & Letters‎^[3], number 5, 1998, page 28 of 13-36:

     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.

   • 2008 August 1, William F. Young, Jr., “THE ENDOCRINE SOCIETY 2008 LAUREATE AWARDS: Citation for the 2008 Distinguished Physician Award of The Endocrine Society to Dr. F. John Service”, in Molecular Endocrinology‎^[4], volume 22, number 8, →DOI, pages 1977–1989:

     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.’