PLAIN 2013, an international gathering of plain language practitioners. What stays in my mind, 10 days later?
Blog: Content writing and content strategy insights
Posts tagged "plain English"
Seven decades, seven lessons for writers
I’m gearing up for Vancouver’s PLAIN2013 conference in October, and getting a bit excited. All the speakers have been asked to answer three questions for the conference blog:
- Why is plain language important in your work?
- What is your presentation focus, and what are some of the key points participants will learn?
- What is the best plain language advice you can give?
Global English: EFL, Just Talk English, or translatable English?
I started using the phrase global English in the 1990s. However, today it means different things to different people. I'm familiar with three common definitions, and no doubt you know some more.
Writing tip: Use 1, 2, 3 for first, second, third
When writing a list, how do you decide whether to use dot points or numbers?
Plain language vs. ploddledygook: the worm turns
"Call the police. Ploddledygook is murdering the English language," went a headline in The Times on 9 May 2013.
Simon de Bruxelles quoted a hefty chunk of impenetrable blah posing as "instructions" for police officers entering Avon & Somerset's annual Problem Solving Awards.
That a British police authority should gush meaningless fluffy managementspeak is no surprise. That's the reality in every sector today, as Don Watson so eloquently explained in a Radio New Zealand interview yesterday.
What's amazing (and wonderful) to me is the indignant response of some of the police officers who tried to read this ploddledygook. (That word will be with us forever.)