It’s a phrase we may have heard, but many of us ignore it.
Thought to have been coined by American aircraft engineer Kelly Johnson and widely adopted by the engineering industry, the principle is that most systems work best if they’re kept simple rather than made complicated.
This also applies to writing.
Plain English is good for our customers, good for our business and good for our bottom line. All of this is good for us.
By using plain English, we get our message across faster, help more people to understand it, and reduce the chance of misunderstanding or error.
It also makes you look clever. Seriously!
In 2006, Professor Daniel Oppenheimer from Princeton University published research that showed using clear, simple words over needlessly complex ones can actually make authors appear more intelligent.
He found clear, simple language builds trust and confidence.
When you use a longer word, the reader is more likely to skip over the shorter words that follow it.
My pet hate is ‘utilise’ – it’s ‘use’ with two unnecessary syllables!
My colleague, Kylie Miller hates ‘facilitate’, but I challenge anyone to come up with a simpler word that means precisely the same thing.
What other long words should we replace?