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.”
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.
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