On Sunday, many viewers were puzzled by the way in which Tony Blair answered a question during his BBC interview. Asked if he still supported GB for the leadership, the PM said "I do not resile from any of the things I have said about Gordon in the past."
Even with a degree in English, I was confused. Did that mean he WAS taking it all back? What was this strange new word that Mr Blair had chosen? What was the significance of the PM, often cited as one of the great communicators, choosing to wilfully obscure his intentions by using arcane language?
It is a seriously bizarre word to choose. Here are some of its meanings:
1. pull out from an agreement, contract, statement, etc.; "The landlord cannot resile from the lease"
2. bounce: spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide"
3. abjure: formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure; "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"; "She abjured her beliefs"
4. return to the original position or state after being stretched or compressed; "The rubber tubes resile"
Any way you look at it, hardly a ringing endorsement.
The interesting phenomenon is how the word itself has been absorbed into New Labour-speak. It is remarkable that so on-message are cabinet members that not only do they parrot the policies of the PM, they even start to mimic his language.
On Monday one might have safely assumed that 'resile' would not be a word one would hear again for a while.
Yet man-of-the-people Alan Johnson, the housewives choice, the postie's postie, deployed it during an interview only yesterday. Then David Miliband used it yesterday too.
It seems New Labour have taken a liking to the word. Perhaps they think it is strong and mysterious, and the voters will be impressed by their wide vocabulary, without actually understanding if the politician in question is for something or against it.
Perhaps this could be the start of a new communications strategy from New Labour, and we should brace ourselves for a barrage of words like liminal or discombobulate, all the better to confuse the voters with.
