12 December 2007: Sick as a parrot

Former England football boss Steve McClaren has at last won something: the Plain English Campaign's "Foot in Mouth Award" for a priceless piece of sporting wisdom.

McClaren won the award for his assessment of Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney, saying "He is inexperienced, but he's experienced in terms of what he's been through."

Last year's winner was supermodel Naomi Campbell, with her patriotic declaration: "I love England, especially the food. There's nothing I like more than a lovely bowl of pasta."

The annual awards highlight unclear language from public bodies and the media.

Two winners of this year's "Golden Bull" award, which highlights impenetrable or inappropriate use of jargon, are for a sign at London's Gatwick Airport stating: "Passenger shoe repatriation area only", and a statement from Virgin Trains which reads as follows:

"Moving forwards, we as Virgin Trains are looking to take ownership of the flow in question to apply our pricing structure, thus resulting in this journey search appearing in the new category-matrix format. The pricing of this particular flow is an issue going back to 1996 and it is not something that we can change until 2008 at the earliest. I hope this makes the situation clear."