Bad writing

A sign on a churchyard gate, seen on a walk at the weekend, reads:

Please be aware of rabbit damage to the grass to the left of the church door.

This has nothing whatever to do with employment tribunal practice. It’s just rather a perfect specimen of a particular kind of bad writing. I stared at the notice in some puzzlement for several seconds (why do I care about rabbit damage to the grass? is it some kind of an attraction? or is it supposed to be my fault? what am I supposed to do about it?) before it dawned on me that what the writer was trying to say was simply ‘Mind you don’t fall down the rabbit holes.’

I think this sort of thing is brought on by self-consciousness. Things people would be perfectly able to say plainly and simply face-to-face cause them hand-wringing anxiety when they realise that what they write is going to be displayed on a gate and read by every passing walker – or put in a bundle and read by a tribunal. Is it formal enough to write ”Don’t” on a public notice? Is it somehow rude to speak of rabbit holes? Or ambiguous – perhaps they’ll think I mean holes in the rabbits?

The same thing happens with writing people know a tribunal is going to end up reading: they feel tribunal proceedings are important and formal, and that means you have to find longer words and more oblique ways saying things than you normally would.

But you don’t. If you catch yourself struggling for formality in this way, just relax. It’s much better to write what you mean as simply and directly as you would say it aloud.

One Reply to “Bad writing”

  1. I like this article a lot – Its a nice variation on “German Shepherd for sale. Eats Anything. Loves Children”

    The value of saying things not only clearly, but appealing to the reader as well, is illustrated in this short video by a firm of web content creators: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzgzim5m7oU

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