Last week I was asked to include the following line as an action in a strategic plan: Develop a digital strategy.
I suggested perhaps we could add an explainer to help readers know what we meant by a digital strategy.
Here’s what came back: Develop a digital strategy to inform the implementation plan.
Hold the Covfefe!
In 1946 George Orwell’s essay Politics and the English Language argued that contemporary writing was habitually lazy, imprecise and pretentious. It is as relevant now as it was 75 years ago.
Orwell writes about long passages devoid of meaning and full of pretentious diction and dying metaphors. We’re still doing it, seventy-five years on, despite numerous studies showing that the public prefers plain language.
Not only do readers like it, but plain language enhances the status of the writer.
Princeton University professor Daniel Oppenheimer has published research that shows using clear, simple words over needlessly complex ones makes authors appear more intelligent. (He won an Ig Nobel Prize in Literature for it –- the title of his paper hints at why).
I’m setting out on a plain English mission. What favourite baffling line have you encountered? I’d love to hear about it.