Today we received a very nice birthday present, one that any six-year-old would be delighted to receive:
Contented appointed to Government syndicated panel of common web services
Now we are six, we have a confession to make.
For years we have been providing many web services such as content strategy, accessibility audits, writing accessible content, and content project management.
I think some people confuse plain (= clear and precise) English with Basic (= minimal, often informal) English. Basic English commits exactly the sins you describe.
I am not a fan of Basic English, which advocates a vocabulary of 850 words. In my opinion this restricted vocabulary inevitably creates confusion—so I agree with you.
A few years ago I went to a terrific seminar on cross-cultural communication. I was shocked to discover that only a few of the audience were from the business world. Why's that shocking? Because the topic is relevant to every web site—not just those for EFL teachers, ESL and ESOL teachers, refugees and immigrants.
Plain language is a modest muse, as her name suggests. No rock queen, she appears simple, unassuming, natural, unadorned by sequins or diamonds. She is neither sophisticated nor scholarly—yet she is widely followed.
Governments pursue and promote plain language. So do companies, not-for-profits and other organisations.
Their reasons are many and various. What's your own reason for admiring or disliking communication in plain language?
Giving presentations to small groups is a tradeoff. The audience get a talk from a relevant speaker, we all get to meet new people, and the speaker gets—in this case, a bottle of Te Atarangi Pinot Noir! I like that. But I also enjoy the excuse to think through a new aspect of contemporary communication.
This time, I strode through seven decades of the plain language movement, matching developments in the wide world with developments in my own language.
Naming a moment when the plain language movement was born is arbitrary. Aristotle's Ars Rhetorica? Wycliffe's Bible in the vernacular? George Orwell? I arbitrarily chose the US Admiral who noted problems of unreadable gun manuals in World War II, since that was in the 1940s, when I also was born.