Nonsense from Alicia Silverstone

By Hermione Gray

ONE of the wonders of the English language is people's ability to completely butcher it.

No-one knows that more so than The Plain English Campaign Awards. Founded in 1980, the Campaign was formed to give credit to organisations that used plain English - and shame those that didn't.

Its awards now highlight how much gobbledygook is spoken, especially by those who should know better.

Hollywood star Alicia Silverstone won the

Press Association

Campaign's Foot in the Mouth award for this truly baffling statement to a newspaper.

'I think that [the film] Clueless was very deep. I think it was deep in the way that it was very light. I think lightness has to come from a very deep place if it's true lightness.' Previous Foot In The Mouth winners include:

1993. Former England cricket boss Ted Dexter explaining another England defeat in Australia. 'Maybe we are in the wrong sign. Maybe Venus is in the wrong juxtaposition with something else. I don't know.'

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1998. Cardiff MP Rhodri Morgan, asked by Jeremy Paxman if he wanted to be the Labour leader of the Welsh Assembly, replied, 'Does a one-legged duck swim in circles ' After a puzzled silence, Paxman asked if that was Welsh for yes.

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1999. Glenn Hoddle, asked by Sir Trevor McDonald to explain his controversial comments on people with disabilities, said: 'I do not believe that. At this moment in time, if that changes in years to come I don't know, but what happens here today and changes as we go along, that is part of life's learning and part of your inner beliefs. But at this moment in time, I did not say them things and at the end of the day, I want to put that on record because it has hurt people.'

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