HMPRESENTLY: Straight Talk About ‘Fudging’

I was poking fun at ‘fudging,’ a word that’s defined as not communicating in a direct way… in a column I’d written several years ago in the Daily Post.

Back when I was in school, students sometimes fudged essays and term papers, by inserting fancy, impressive-sounding words, full of gravitas, in their written work… thinking they could fake out teachers, and maybe get a good grade.

In 2017, consultants studying Pagosa’s “local development patterns,” were suggesting that what Pagosa Springs would be needing in the future, was “a more cohesive sense of place,” Daily Post editor Bill Hudson mentioned in his editorial this past Friday.

And he went on to say he had “no idea what ‘a more cohesive sense of place’ might mean.’”

Me either, even though, during my career in communication, I occasionally was exposed to consultants’ lingo.

It was the rather fancy word, ‘unbeknownst,’ that got me started, writing about ‘fudging.’

Former President Trump, in 2019, had tweeted… that “Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David.”

Who uses words like ‘unbeknownst’… I was wondering, at the time.

Steven Mnuchin, who served as Treasury Secretary in the Trump Cabinet, was discussing the trade war’s impact on American businesses, when he noted that, in “certain situations where there have been difficulties for companies,” Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer had “done a very good job managing the exception process on a case-by-case basis.”

You hear “managing the exception process,” and you’re maybe thinking… ‘Oh, sure, okay…’ until you’re pondering what the hell those words really mean.

Maybe what dictionaries need is an updated definition of ‘fudging.’ Like, for example… Fudging sometimes may occur when students’ term papers, a former president’s tweets, and various government and business officials’ communication, by design, may seem confusing and almost indecipherable.

Anyway… getting back to “local development patterns” and “a more cohesive sense of place,” those consultants evaluating Pagosa years ago, were talking about… should we be wondering about other terminology in their 2017 report?

‘Terminology,’ by the way, is defined as “The body of terms used with a particular technical application in a subject of study, profession, etc.”

Now, that’s a real mouthful, too, isn’t it?

Harvey Radin

Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.