What is plain language? It's what you use to communicate effectively when there is a high price for ambiguity. It's what you use when you have complicated information to convey to busy people who don't have the time for gibberish. It's language that is free of jargon...
I am taking a risk by saying this: Science, medicine, and education are essential elements of a civilized society and the free exchange of ideas is an essential element of democracy. Trump is preventing government scientists from sharing information with the public....
One throat to choke. No. Yikes! Let's go for the ask. No. Open the kimono. By all that's holy, no. That's just creepy, especially in light of #MeToo. Human capital . . . No. No. No. Learnings. Instantiate. Please don't use business jargon. It's often uninformative,...
How many of us have read a science paper and wondered what disembodied hand was at work? Literally. Scientists perform surgical procedures on animals and then kill them. Then they analyze the results and report them. They divide people into groups and administer...
Yesterday (at the time of this writing), John McIntyre, one of the titans of the editing profession, posted the following on his Facebook page, courtesy of The Poke:* The Poke’s caption was, "The kind of headline a journalist waits their whole life to write…."...
The death of one animal went viral this summer. A lion was tortured to death and mutilated for fun by a dentist from Minnesota. But what does this have to do with language? With editing? Cultural Shifts Against the Maltreatment of Animals Cecil was not the only animal...
Simple language creates trust, saves time, and prevents confusion. There’s a whole body of law devoted to the issue of ambiguity in contracts, and those contracts were drafted by lawyers. Nevertheless, some of them are so ambiguous that they give rise to expensive...