Many more simply don’t read it. Reports that are verbose and opaque pile up on one corner of our desks, while concise and clear ones are read and remembered.

Un-bafflegab
To show how powerful words can be, women in Argentina in the 1970s refused to say their loved ones were missing (a neutral term) and insisted on calling them disappeared. This is a new way to use the verb to disappear and implies that an action has been taken to cause the missing people to be absent.

In another example, Canada’s Auditor General, Sheila Fraser, was asked in a television interview why her department was receiving so much more publicity than previous auditors general ever had. She replied that one reason was because she used plain language, avoided bureaucratic jargon and made sure the messages were clear. The interviewer commented that journalists “loved getting into” her reports when they came out, and enthused, “I can’t tell you how much we appreciate it [the plain language].”^{Footnote 3}

Breaking the habit
It is really hard to break the wordiness habit. Writing flowing corporatespeak feels good—we’ve just produced something that will make others think we are diligent and intelligent. George Orwell wrote that prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse. (Politics and the English Language, 1946)

Writing simply takes practice. It also takes an entire organization if plain language is to succeed in a company. A major excuse used by writers is that they are writing like everyone else in their place of work. Plain language is certainly unachievable if only those in the lower ranks of the hierarchy are expected to write in that way. Staff feel there is a risk they will look less educated and less intelligent when they would much rather impress their boss. If the boss sets an example by writing simply and promoting plain language, the whole organization can improve its communications.

Here is an example of unplain language for you to enjoy, from a bus company’s instructions to its drivers:

Where passengers cannot be accepted because of the potential overload of the vehicle, you should inform positively of the situation and where possible [provide] appropriate information as to how to complete the journey.^{Footnote 4}