We call it government speak.

Interpreting it can be quite the challenge.

Generally, most of us use words to convey ideas, to express ourselves and to inform.

Government speak, education speak, cop speak and other forms of cloaked speech are intended to hide meanings, deflect attention or confuse an audience.

Government, for example, likes to talk about “initiatives.” Most of us would much rather they just say exactly what it is they are doing.

When there is a raw sewage spill, news releases call it an “outflow.” Most of us know exactly what to call it.

Tax hikes have been called “a slight upward adjustment in the millage.” Seriously, you can’t make this stuff up.

Taxes are called “funding streams.”

Spending cuts are called “adjustments.”

Layoffs are called “right sizing” or “restructuring.”

Large purchases are simply “procurements,” which sounds far more palatable than spending your money.

Poverty is known as “social exclusion.”

Minority populations are called a “demographic.”

Unemployment is called “worklessness.”

One Georgia city when voting to install speed bumps downtown that some residents were very opposed to, opted to call them “traffic calming devices.” And, before you ask, yes that really happened.

Then, there is cop speak.

In police reports, instead of reading that a suspect was pulled over, we read that authorities “initiated a traffic stop.”

Instead of a chase, police say they “did give pursuit.”

Then when describing the getaway car we are told it was “red in color.” We are not quite sure exactly what else it could be red in but we know that it is red in color as opposed to being red in shape, or red in sound or red in smell, or even red with embarrassment.

Instead of someone being hurt, we are told the “subject did sustain injuries.”

Education speak is a science all of its own. Terms such as “value-added,” “academic rigor,” “restorative processes,” “formative assessments,” “ESL,” “NCLB,” and “RTTP,” require more than a dictionary or thesaurus.

Journalism, and life, would be easier if people would simply say what they mean and mean what they say.

But don’t confuse being direct and plain spoken with being rude, crude and disrespectful.

A person can be straight forward and still be nice and respectful.

Telling the truth and being vile in your speech are simply not the same thing.

Jim Zachary is the editor of The Valdosta Daily Times, CNHI’s director of newsroom training and development and president emeritus of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation.