Language & Politics : the UK parliament

The British Parliament, is the law-making body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas lands. It alone possesses legislative authority and thereby ultimate power over all other political bodies in the UK and its territories. Its head is currently Queen Elizabeth II and its seat is the Palace of Westminster in the City of Westminster, located in Greater London.

The two-house system- Within the UK parliament, there are two main 'houses' which are similar in terms of roles - to introduce new laws, talk about particular issues, and to check the government's work. In this system, there is the House of Commons - this house is in charge of financial problems as well as legislating new laws.

Parliamentary language consists of many terms that are used that may not be understood by people outside of the field. For example:

Adjournment debate: usually a half-hour debate introduced by a backbencher at the end of business for the day. The subjects raised are often local or personal issues.

Committee of the whole House: when the entire House sits as a committee in the Chamber. It is presided over by the chairman of ways and means or one of his deputies, and the mace is placed under the table instead of upon it. The committee stages of bills of constitutional importance, urgent bills, and parts of the finance bill are usually taken in committee of the whole House instead of in standing committee.

Consolidation bill: a bill that seeks to draw together several previous enactments on a subject. In the Commons, the second and third readings are taken without debate.

Delegated legislation: legislation made by ministers under powers granted to them in acts of parliament.

Vote bundle: includes the order paper, giving the agenda for the current day's sitting, lists of parliamentary proceedings, a summary of the proceedings of standing committees that sat the previous day.

Standing order - an order made by the House (Commons or Lords) for the regulation of its proceedings.

Unparliamentary Language:

 Tradition has evolved that there are words or phrases that are deemed inappropriate for use in the legislature whilst it is in session. In a Westminster system, this is called unparliamentary language and there are similar rules in other kinds of legislative system. Exactly what constitutes unparliamentary language is generally left to the choice of the Speaker of the House. Part of the speaker's job is to enforce the assembly's debating rules, one of which is that members may not use "unparliamentary" language. That is, their words must not offend the dignity of the assembly.

Some Examples :

•Bullshit

•git

•traitor

•liar