Plain language in the news
Worst words of 2011? ‘Fugitive emissions’ tops the list
US bill for a Plain Regulations Act introduced
Botanists switch from Latin to clear the plant backlog
New Zealand on the way to clear financial disclosure documents
Australian judge exasperated by planning document
Neil James addressing Norway conference
Modern Manglish launched in style
2011 Plain English winners announced
International Plain Language Day - October 13
Phone plan advertising criticised by Australian communications watchdog
Judge slaps lawyer for submitting gibberish
UK motorist wins battle over unclear parking sign
ACCC says advertising for chicken products is misleading
US health insurers may delay new clear communication forms
Worst words of 2011? ‘Fugitive emissions’ tops the list
The Plain English Foundation has voted fugitive emissions the worst word use of 2011.
Chemical company Orica used the phrase to downplay gas leaks of the highly polluting substance ammonia from its plant at Newcastle, NSW.
According to the Foundation’s Dr Neil James, ‘describing highly toxic pollution as fugitive emissions breathlessly spins a serious environmental incident into something that evades corporate responsibility’.
The term was a clear winner ahead of a dozen examples of spin doctoring, clichés and suitspeak, mixed metaphors, marketing and Manglish.
(posted January 2012)
US bill for a Plain Regulations Act introduced
The US led internationally with its Plain Writing Act of 2010 that required government agencies to use plain language in all new and updated publications and forms. Now a congressman has introduced the Plain Regulations Act of 2012, a bill to extend the use of plain language to all Federal regulations.
The principle of the bill is that clear writing means government programs would be easier to carry out, and the public would find them easier to understand.
Like the Plain Writing Act, the bill calls for agencies to train their employees in plain language. It defines plain language as ‘clear, concise, well-organized and follow[ing] other best practices appropriate to the subject of field and intended audience’.
The bill, sponsored by Iowa Representative Bill Braley, aims ‘to ensure clarity of regulations to improve the effectiveness of Federal regulatory programs while decreasing burdens on the regulated public’.
(posted January 2012)
Source: http://centerforplainlanguage.org/resources/plain-writing-laws/plain-regulations-act/
Botanists switch from Latin to clear the plant backlog
To help scientists to describe newly identified plants faster than they disappear from the planet, botanists have been given the go-ahead to use English rather than Latin.
The International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi and plants (ICBN) has reversed a century-old requirement to provide a Latin description of a new species.
Botanists formerly had to write sentences such as:
Arbor usque ad 6 m alta. Folia decidua; lamina oblanceolata vel elliptica-oblongata, 2-7 cm longa.
The scientist can now write in English:
6-metre tall tree with deciduous leaves 2-7 centimetres long.
The code came into effect on 1 January 2012, after botanists reviewed it at a congress in Melbourne last year (2011). Botanists had been using Latin for descriptions since the 1700s, and the official code has required it since 1908.
The code also now recognises publication in online journals as well as in print. Both changes will help to speed up the race to catalogue the world’s plant life.
(posted January 2012)
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/opinion/plants-in-plain-english.html?_r=2&
New Zealand on the way to clear financial disclosure documents
New Zealand’s financial regulator is set to follow Australia’s lead in demanding ‘clear, concise and effective disclosure’ in prospectuses and investment statements.
‘We propose to recommend using plain language. We want issuers to achieve this approach for every disclosure document, as well as any marketing documentation,’ the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) says.
The FMA released its draft guidelines on 26 January (2012) after it identified concerns about style and presentation in documents, including too much jargon and complexity.
(posted January 2012)
Source: http://www.nbr.co.nz/article/fma-recommends-issuers-use-‘plain-language’-offer-docs-db-108402
Australian judge exasperated by planning document
A Tasmanian judge, exasperated by the complexity of a legal document he had to review, has blasted the text in his judgment.
In the Tasmanian Full Court, Justice Blow called the Kingborough Planning Scheme 2000 ‘mind-numbing’.
The planning scheme is very complex, and exceedingly and unnecessarily difficult to comprehend or interpret. Most ordinary people would not have a chance. Most sensible people, or people with a life, would not attempt the task unless they had absolutely no choice. In order to determine how the scheme operates in relation to the appellant's proposed development, it is practically essential to have a law degree, decades of experience in interpreting legal documents, a talent for understanding gobbledygook and misused words, a lot of time, and a very strong capacity for perseverance.
(posted January 2012)
Neil James addressing Norway conference
Executive Director of the Plain English Foundation, Dr Neil James, will be travelling from Sydney to Norway to give the keynote address to a conference on public language in Oslo next month (14 February 2012).
‘Plain Language in Norway’s Civil Service’ is a joint project to encourage public agencies to adopt good, user-friendly language. At its 2nd annual conference, Neil will be talking on international developments in plain language.
Neil has been working with Australian government departments for over 10 years. He is chair of the International Plain Language Working Group, and has recently become the deputy chair of Plain Language Association International.
The plain language project involves the Norwegian Ministry of Government Administration, Reform and Church Affairs; the Agency for Public Management and e-Government; and the Language Council of Norway.
Neil will also be giving an open lecture at the University of Oslo.
(posted January 2012)
Modern Manglish launched in style
Neil James’s latest look at language was launched on 8 December in Sydney. Well-known broadcaster and writer Caroline Jones, who wrote the foreword for the book, formed a hilarious double act with the Chaser team’s Chris Taylor. Both endorsed – in their own styles – the humour and research in this collection of outrageous examples of obfuscation, jargon, pomposity and error.
To produce Modern Manglish, Neil has collaborated with Harold Scruby, who produced the original Manglish some 20 years ago, and Sydney Morning Herald cartoonist, Alan Moir.
Contribute your own favourite mangled English examples at manglish.com.au
Modern Manglish is available at book stores now.
(posted December 2011)
2011 Plain English winners announced
The 2011 WriteMark Plain English Award winners were announced on 14 November in New Zealand.
Our executive director, Dr Neil James, was a judge of the Best Plain English Sentence Transformation Award, won by Maryland Spencer for 'a faultless transformation of a wordy, jargon-laden sentence into plain English'.
Before: In the opinion of the acute services and IRS TBI providers, the clients medical status would enable the client to make significant improvements in functioning as a result of rehabilitation that would result in an increase in vocational and social activity and participation related to their pre-injury vocational and social roles.
After: Acute services and IRS TBI providers deem the client ready for rehabilitation. This will significantly benefit their work and social activities.
(posted November 2011)
International Plain Language Day — October 13
October 13 is now International Plain Language Day to celebrate the anniversary of the day President Obama signed the federal Plain Writing Act of 2010. This law defines plain language as ‘writing that is clear, concise, well-organized, and follows other best practices appropriate to the subject or field and intended audience’.
(posted October 2011)
Phone plan advertising criticised by communications watchdog
The mobile phone sector should lift the standard of its advertising to make plans easier to compare, says the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Part of the problem is the terms used in advertising. The Australian Communications Consumer Action Network has identified several terms that confuse customers.
- CAP – the tem is ‘incredibly misleading’ as the advertised amount is the minimum monthly payment, not the maximum
- CAP UNLIMITED – there may be limitations, for example reducing the speed of broadband when a usage level is reached, but they are shown in fine print
- INCLUDED VALUE – the value of calls is based on the underlying call costs – say, cost per minute – but these are creeping up, so the consumer doesn’t necessarily get better value.
The ACMA noted the term NO EXCLUSIONS was ‘particularly problematic’ as ‘some elements that would be expected to be included are in fact excluded’. The aim is to get consumers through the door and signed up to a contract, where the qualifications may be disclosed in the fine print. The ACMA call for action was in its Reconnecting the Customer report published in September 2011.
(posted September 2011)
Read more at: theage.com.au/money/planning/hold-please-while-we-lift-our-game-20110920-1kivg.html
Judge slaps lawyer for submitting gibberish
A US Federal appeals judge was so irritated by the language a lawyer was using that he asked him to show cause why he should continue to practise. The Illinois lawyer, Walter Maksym, ‘was unable to file an intelligible complaint’, according to the judge. He said the problem was that it was ‘impossible for the defendants to know what wrongs they were accused of committing’. Among the issues was a 345 word sentence. At least 23 sentences were 100 or more words long:
[The plaintiff and concertgoers] were stunned on the day of the family-oriented event, when an even more menacing law enforcement presence was created when [the sheriff's] armed deputies, without prior consent or permission, warrant or probable cause, arrived, not a part of any agreement and a surprise and upset when it arrive, uninvited, on and entered and trespassed on Plaintiff property with drug-sniffing ‘K-9’ dogs, obviously and unfortunate that Defendants were ‘looking for trouble’ where there was none as distinct from 'looking to serve’.
(posted September 2011)
Read more at: abajournal.com/news/article/7th_circuit_slaps_lawyer_for_unintelligible_writing_full_of_gibberish/?utm_source=maestro&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weekly_email
UK motorist wins battle over unclear parking sign
A motorist who refused to pay a parking ticket because the 'Pay and Display' wording was too small has won his court case, and saved his £100. Martin Cutts, a plain English campaigner, argued that the contract which the parking operator said he had breached was unfair and invalid. The operator, he said, hadn’t made reasonable efforts to show him he was entering into a contract when he entered the car park and parked his car. Although the notice at the entrance did have the words 'Pay and Display', they were only 13 mm high, and surrounded by lots of visual clutter, including terms and conditions and other messages which were in even smaller print.
The entrance used was, I believe,’ said Mr Cutts, ‘cunningly got up to look like the entrance to a free car park’.
(posted September 2011)
Read more at: menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/s/1458879_motorist-wins-18-month-ticket-battle-after-judge-agrees-stockport-parking-signs-were-too-smal
ACCC says advertising for chicken products is misleading
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has called it misleading when poultry producers say their chickens are ‘free to roam in large barns’. It is suing Baiada for using the term when there can be as many as 20 birds per square metre. The ACCC says the term implies the chickens have ‘substantial space available allowing them to roam freely’. Laws set out methods for producing chicken meat and eggs as: organic, free range, produced in large sheds, or caged birds. Terms like ‘barn laid’, ‘free to roam’ and ‘cage free’ have become common in packaging and advertising. Other producers and users like KFC have dropped the ‘free to roam’ term.
(posted September 2011)
Read more at: smh.com.au/environment/animals/free-to-roam-20110917-1kf1h.html
US health insurers may delay new clear communication forms
Rules for simple forms about health insurance were released for comment in the US in August 2011. The forms aim to explain benefits and costs in easy-to-understand terms so consumers can comparison shop for best coverage. The forms come out of the health laws President Obama introduced last year. The new forms are supposed to be available in March 2012, but insurers and employers are asking for modifications, clarifications and delays to comply. They need to provide forms to 160 million beneficiaries plus new applicants. Forms should provide a benefits summary chart, definitions of commonly used terms, and two pages of coverage facts labels – modeled after the nutrition facts on prepared foods – that show how much a plan pays for the average national cost of three common medical conditions. The law prohibits ‘fine print’, mandating materials in at least 12 point type.