Will Barclays Bank really be making things clearer for us?

The BBC has reported that Barclays Bank is moving away from "the arcane language that has be-devilled bank customers for generations". The bank said it wants to move away from confusing acronyms and jargon, using "more colloquial" terms instead. Jim Hytner, Barclays' marketing director, said: "We will be using language that everyone knows and understands".

We think that's a great idea, but we're not sure that the new words and phrases will make things clearer.

On Radio 5, they said Barclays were going to replace "cash machine" will "Hole in the wall". We don't see what's wrong with "cash machine"; surely everyone understands that phrase?

"Customer service" will have new signs asking "Can I help?" (good), while the "Bureau de Change" will simply be called "Travel Money" (not good). Not every one who buys foreign currency uses it for travel.

The press release stated, "the new style of communication showed far better that Barclays understands it's (sic) customers."

A colloquialism is "an expression not used in formal speech or writing". It may be informal, but often it isn't language used and understood by everyone.