March 2, 2009 Article in The Lawyers Weekly on “Plain Language Movement”
The current issue of the Canadian periodical The Lawyers Weekly contains an article entitled “Plain Language Movement Gaining Steam.” It’s a useful introduction, although regular readers of this blog won’t be surprised by what it has to say. And it quotes some contract-drafting guy …
Incidentally, I explained in this November 2006 post why I refer to “standard English” rather than “plain language.”
March 3, 2009 at 3:03 am
Ken, why not avoid both the dumbing down association of “plain language” and the cultural hegemony issues of “standard English”, by using a phrase such as “clear language”? I think clarity is what we are aiming for in any case, rather than standarisation or plainness per se.
March 3, 2009 at 5:54 am
Art: I’m OK with “standard English.” For one thing, it’s not meant to connote standardization, but rather English as it’s actually spoken and written by educated native-English speakers and writers. And second, it’s an accepted phrase; the less I have to invent, the better. Ken