the.com/spokesperson
Paid to say what leadership thinks, in words leadership would never use.
means A person officially authorized to speak on behalf of an organization or group to the public or press.
from A straightforward 20th-century compound built to replace the gendered 'spokesman,' joining 'spoke' (from 'speak') with 'person' — part of a broader wave of English coinages swapping '-man' for '-person' to make job titles gender-neutral.
- origin
- blends spoke, as in speak, and person, not wheels
- real job
- translating panic into calm, grammatical sentences
- golden rule
- never technically lie, never fully answer
- job security
- crisis-proof, crises make the role essential