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November 07, 2005
Jonathan Pitts
The Baltimore Sun

Over the years, true or not, the story has taken on unmistakable power: Sometime in the 1970s, two little old ladies in Derbyshire, England, had trouble making their rent. On the verge of eviction, they donned their spectacles, flipped nervously through the phone book and finally located a number for the local housing authority. To their great relief, they learned they were eligible for government support.

A form arrived in the mail. They tried to read it. But its instructions were so convoluted they didn't know what to do. They died in the streets that winter.

Few on hand at the Fifth International Plain Language Conference in Washington seemed to know - or necessarily care - whether the two dowagers ever really existed. But the tale has assumed the force of legend among members of a movement known as &lqt;plain language,&lqt; an unofficial but growing crusade to teach bureaucrats, attorneys and other habitual offenders around the world that, when it comes to communication, straight talk isn't just easier to follow. It's essential.

&lqt;Rule No. 1 is that language should fit the user's needs, not the writer's,&lqt; says John Strylowski of the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of the more influential advocates of plain language within the federal government and a speaker at the conference, which was held at the L'Enfant Plaza Hotel over the weekend. &lqt;Nobody ever read a sentence and said, 'Can you make this longer and more complicated for me?'

&lqt;In every field, gobbledygook has consequences,&lqt; he says. &lqt;It's best, in more ways than one, to keep language clear, simple and easy to understand.&lqt; ...

From: www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.plain07nov07,1,6059536.story?ctrack=1&cset=true
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November 01, 2005
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
ScienceDaily

Writers who use long words needlessly and choose complicated font styles are seen as less intelligent than those who stick with basic vocabulary and plain text, according to new research from the Princeton University in New Jersey, to be published in the next edition of Applied Cognitive Psychology.

This implies that efforts to impress readers by using florid font styles and searching through a thesaurus may have the opposite effect.

Study author Daniel Oppenheimer based his findings on students' responses to writing samples for which the complexity of the font or vocabulary was systematically manipulated. In a series of five experiments, he found that people tended to rate the intelligence of authors who wrote essays in simpler language, using an easy to read font, as higher than those who authored more complex works.

&lqt;It's important to point out that this research is not about problems with using long words but about using long words needlessly,&lqt; said study author Daniel Oppenheimer.

&lqt;Anything that makes a text hard to read and understand, such as unnecessarily long words or complicated fonts, will lower readers' evaluations of the text and its author.&lqt;

The samples of text included graduate school applications, sociology dissertation abstracts, and translations of a work of Descartes. Times New Roman and italicised Juice font were used in samples to further assess the effect of fluency on rating levels.

Interestingly, by making people aware that the source of low fluency was irrelevant to judgement, Oppenheimer found that they overcompensated and became biased in the opposite direction. In a final experiment, he provided samples of text printed with normal and low printer toner levels. The low toner levels made the text harder to read, but readers were able to identify the toner as being responsible for the difficulty, and therefore didn't blame the authors.

&lqt;The continuing popularity amongst students of using big words and attractive font styles may be due to the fact that they may not realise these techniques could backfire,&lqt; Oppenheimer noted.

&lqt;One thing seems certain: write as simply and plainly as possible and it's more likely you'll be thought of as intelligent.&lqt;

Daniel M. Oppenheimer, Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly, Journal of Applied Cognitive Psychology 2005, DOI: 10.1002/acp.1178

Full Story: www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051031075447.htm
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October 25, 2005
Deborah Franklin
The New York Times

Open your medicine cabinet, and take a close look at every prescription pill bottle you've got. Chances are, each vial is plastered with at least one colorful warning sticker that contains a bold but strangely ambiguous phrase or two  accompanied, perhaps, by a cryptic drawing. You might see, for example, a red sticker depicting a gushing faucet, with a message in fine print that reads, &lqt;MEDICATION SHOULD BE TAKEN WITH PLENTY OF WATER.&lqt; But, how much is plenty? Would a cup of coffee be acceptable instead? ...

These insistent little strips of paper or plastic  hundreds of them  are designed and manufactured by a number of well meaning companies, each according to its own format, symbology and color scheme. The warning stickers on prescription bottles have not traditionally been deemed important contributors to patient education.

Compared with the package insert prepared by the drug's manufacturer under the hot breath of the Food and Drug Administration or the one-page consumer summaries that pharmacists add, the warning stickers are just fluffy little extras.

As such, they are not standardized, regulated or even reviewed by the F.D.A. Nor are they generally tested for effectiveness before they hit the market.

But some health literacy experts worry that many patients, overwhelmed by a proliferation of paper warnings  often written in turgid prose  are relying instead on the stickers to tell them how to take medications.

&lqt;What I'm hearing from patients is that they don't really much use these handouts that are stapled to the bag,&lqt; said Dr. Ruth Parker, an internist who treats patients at the large public hospital associated with Emory University in Atlanta. &lqt;What they will sometimes do is look at the label.&lqt;

Dr. Parker recently completed two studies on the topic with Dr. Terry Davis of Louisiana State University at Shreveport and Dr. Michael Wolf of Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago. The scientists said that, so far, they had not heard of anyone who was harmed by over-reliance on the little stickers as medication guides. Still, their results, not yet published but already being talked about in health literacy circles, suggest that a risk does exist. And patients with reading skills that do not stretch beyond sixth or seventh grade seem likely to be the most vulnerable. ...

From: www.nytimes.com/2005/10/25/health/policy/25cons.html
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October 25, 2005
Hal Boedeker, Television Critic
Orlando Sentinel

Condescension in journalism bugs Neil Cavuto. He's still rankled by a big-time anchor, whom he won't name, who shooed away two elderly fans rather than sign an autograph.

&lqt;There's a sense you're in a club, and you're talking to your fellow club members,&lqt; Cavuto says of journalism. &lqt;In business journalism, it's using the buzz words, the acronyms, the jargon and sounding like the smartest kid in the class. This might shock you, but I was never the smartest kid in the class, so I'm not going to pretend to be.&lqt;

The bluntness helps explain why the public is bullish on Cavuto, 47. As an anchor, he draws viewers to Your World With Neil Cavuto at 4 p.m. weekdays on Fox News Channel. As vice president of business news, Cavuto has established Fox News as a favorite destination for economic news in uncertain times. ...

From: www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/orl-cavuto05oct25,0,6093867.story
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