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People write unplainly for all kinds of reasons. Some
common ones are:
They are used to unplain language.
Many people use unplain language because they are used to it.
They do not always think about what they are doing. Often they
have learned at school that it is clever to use long words and
sentences. Or sometimes they forget that when they started their
job, they did not understand the language either.
They want to fit in at work.
Some people use unplain language because other people do, to
fit in at work.
They do not like plain language.
Some people worry that others will think they do not know how
to use long words. Or they think that unplain language sounds
nicer. But studies show that this is not true. Readers think that
lawyers who use plain English are better. And most scientists
think that other scientists who write in plain language are
better at their job.
Other people think that you cannot talk about hard ideas in
plain language. Yet writers can put hard ideas into plain
language. They can even make laws easy to understand.
Other people worry that if they write in plain language, it
will sound as if they talk down to the readers. But research
shows that readers prefer plain language.
They do not care, are lazy, or want to show off or
hide something.
When you get something in unplain language, it is easy to
think that the person:
- does not care
- does not want to spend time to find plain ways to write
something
- wants to show off
- wants to hide something that is not clear or not true in long
words.
That may be true. But try not to think the worst of people who
use unplain language. The chances are that they do not mean any
harm.
You should tell people who use unplain language that you
cannot understand them. You can get tips on how to do this from
When you get something you can't read
or understand ... (PDF, 93KB).
Tell them that you like plain language. The more people use plain
language, the more people will think plain language is good --
and unplain language will go away! (Download
free Adobe
Reader for viewing PDF file.)
Questions or comments? Contact Sarah Carr at
sarahcarr@btconnect.com, Janet Pringle at owlwords@telus.net or
Bertie Mo at bertiemo@yahoo.com.
Introduction | Tips (PDF) | Samples |
Why
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