We confuse each other so often that President Clinton actually mandated simple language usage in government documents back in 1998.
I didn't know this ....did you?
In addition to being a great folk singer my brother-in-law Matt Watroba also taught high school English for several years. We were having a discussion about lean and he mentioned this memorandum to me. I was pleasantly surprised to hear about it.
"The Federal Government's writing must be in plain language. By using plain language, we send a clear message about what the Government is doing, what it requires, and what services it offers. Plain language saves the Government and the private sector time, effort, and money." - President Clinton's Memorandum.
Take a page or two from the government on how to write clearly.
Plain Language.gov has a ton of information about clear writing. I was very impressed with their guidelines that they provide both in Word and PDF formats.
The guidelines are large font, wide spaced, concise, informative and very clearly written. They are about 100 pages total but filled with useful information.
The basic guidelines remind me of how many web and blog pages are formatted these days. A good example would be CNN which appears to use many of the same simple language techniques to distribute news to a wide audience.
How you distribute and convey important information to others is as critical as the information itself. By simplifying your words you can remove the wasted effort of explanation and add more value to your conversations.
