Well um, Michelle what do you think?

Um, a couple of things again. First of all, as I said one of the original movements or groups that got on the plain language train was the legal community, realizing just what you've said, David. When a decision is handed down or communicated to the person affected by it, it's all couched in subsections and classes and lots of different paragraphs and, again there needs to be more of a focus on what the result is, or what the specific outcome is for the person who's being affected. There are a lot of lawyers I know, fortunately, who do not only do that in their own practice, but also advise others to and set out guidelines for how to communicate certain decisions. And they've even tested them; they tested one version of a decision--actually, we had a world premiere of the study by a gentleman named Joe Kimble from the states. They actually field-tested a decision being handed down: one in plain language and the other in the usual legal terms. And appreciably more people were able to understand the second version that was written in plain language.

So, don't give up hope -- there is much more push for this in the legal community, and there are a lot more people who are starting to become aware of that need. And like what you said, if there's, you know, another attachment or piece of paper that sort of focuses on, or gives a summary of the main things that are in that longer bit, then you're not assuming that people can't understand that longer, more complicated language, but you're giving them a choice. And that's really what the law should be about.

Well David earlier on I was talking about the tax guides, and if I'm not mistaken what they did--because ya know the tax experts were saying "Well we could be on the hook here if somebody treats this as the gospel truth."--I think there are warnings all the way through the tax guide saying "This is just a guide. If you want the real, unadulterated truth refer to the 800-page Income Tax Act. So, that's how they get around it. So in a sense the tax department has done exactly what you have suggested that lawyers do.

Cathy in Ottawa--Hi Cathy!

Hi.

Who needs a lesson in plain language?

Any car dealership or car leasing company where you actually have to go in and sign your life away for the next four to five years, and then they start sending you letters saying "Oh, by the way, this is the information that we failed to give you" and you don't understand the information. So you end up calling their 1-800 number and sitting on the phone for 45 minutes, just so they can say "Oh. That wasn't supposed to be in there."