try to write them in a way that all of our readers can understand
Hence my statement about banning words of more than two syllables. I seriously question whether the vast majority of readers have a problem with things like "vice versa" (so non-elitist it's the title of an idiotic Hollywood movie). If they do it's unlikely to be because the words are Latin -- they're in common English usage, after all -- but because they don't understand a wide range of other, non-banned English words. Hence the banning seems arbitrary and makes no real sense.
I'm actually in favour of plain english, and often bang on about this at work in relation to our letters and policies (as opposed to some members of our company who try to insert words like "apellant"). But there's a difference between keeping your language clear and singling out a range of common phrases which happen to be of Latin origin.
there's plenty of people who don't know the difference between 'e.g.' and 'i.e.'
But not, I put it to you, in any way that makes the meaning of a given sentence difficult to understand. :-P
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Date: 2008-11-04 06:26 pm (UTC)Hence my statement about banning words of more than two syllables. I seriously question whether the vast majority of readers have a problem with things like "vice versa" (so non-elitist it's the title of an idiotic Hollywood movie). If they do it's unlikely to be because the words are Latin -- they're in common English usage, after all -- but because they don't understand a wide range of other, non-banned English words. Hence the banning seems arbitrary and makes no real sense.
I'm actually in favour of plain english, and often bang on about this at work in relation to our letters and policies (as opposed to some members of our company who try to insert words like "apellant"). But there's a difference between keeping your language clear and singling out a range of common phrases which happen to be of Latin origin.
there's plenty of people who don't know the difference between 'e.g.' and 'i.e.'
But not, I put it to you, in any way that makes the meaning of a given sentence difficult to understand. :-P