Journalese, gobbledegook, jargon, rhubarb,
pigeon, estuary, legalese and other
terms are used variously to describe unique
forms of the English language. To those
must be added the simple unadulterated word “police”. Police English is unique
to those fellows who described an aggressive stance as an individual whose eyes
were bulging, shoulders hunched and fists clenched or the drunk who smelt of
intoxicating liquor and walked with an unsteady gait. During the week just gone
a witness was quoted in the officer`s
notebook as describing an assailant who “showed signs of impending aggressive behaviour”. In another case an officer quoted a witness
to a traffic incident who was supposed to have said ,”the junction was
controlled by traffic signals”.
Now it is not beyond reason that the
officers recorded exactly what was said in these examples but as they say in
the land of the thistle and the heather, “I hae ma doots”.
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