Susan Ohanian, a winner of the George Orwell Award for ‘Distinguished Contribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language’ has a web page – http://www.susanohanian.org that is well worth visiting.  Her Quotable Quotes are especially interesting.

Here, she comments on a speech by Arne Duncan [US Secretary for Education]  made to the IES on June 8, 2009. For an Australian focus, Duncan shares the same page as Julia Gillard, Brendan Nelson, Joel Klein, Barry McGaw  and others, whose belief in the power of testing for reform purposes now dominates Australian schooling.  Duncan said, “I am a deep believer in the power of data to drive decisions. Data gives us the road map to reform. It tells us where to go to, how to get to who is most at risk.”

Susan, wickedly, supplies a recipe for cooking the data.

Jellied
Julienne
Juiced

Kneaded
Molded
Marinated
Macerated

Overdone

Peeled
Parboiled
Poached
Puréed
Pickled
Pressed
Pinched

Raw
Roasted
Reduced
Reconstituted
Refried

Sliced
Sauted
Stewed
Stuffed
Steamed
Skewered
Smeared
Sucked Dry

Toasted
Tenderized
Truffled
Trussed
Triple Secced
Tutti-fruittied
Tossed

Unleavened
Unsalted
Upside down caked

Vinaigretted
Vol-au-vented
Vivisected

Waffled
Wall-eyed
Waxed
Woked
Whisked
Whipped

With Carrot Sticks
On rye
And a grain of salt

With pomp
And circumstance

Signifying
Nothing

Data Sightings
apple-polisher
backseat driver
bully
bulldozer

Data
carbon footprint
chopping block
crying wolf

Data
dead end
dumpster

Data
eat you alive
environmental impact statement

Data
foreplay
flatulence
fall guy

Data
gone bananas
hell in a handbasket
interruptus

Data
jump to conclusions
knuckle under

Data
led by the nose
lower the boom
mystery meat
mudsling
miles per hour

Data
needle in a haystack
nutty as a fruitcake
not worth the paper it’s printed on

Data
out to lunch
protective services
quisling

Data
radioactive decay
rat race
rules the roost

Data
scapegoat
showboat
screw loose
sell you the Brooklyn Bridge

Data
too pooped to pop
tsunami

Data
under a cloud
upchuck

Data
vilification
voodoo

Data
wild goose chase
Waterloo