Author Archives: Paul W

Save our language from the Queen’s English Society

By Paul W | Published: June 7, 2010
If these are the new custodians of English, we're in trouble.
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The latest Plain Text client newsletter

By Paul W | Published: February 25, 2010
In this issue of our occasional email newsletter we feature website work for Hay Group, an email for the Energy Saving Trust and Plain Text co-founder Paul Nero's secret life as a radio broadcaster.
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When more is less

By Paul W | Published: February 9, 2010
One of the secrets of good copywriting is knowing when to stop.
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Dissing office jargon is so last decade

By Paul W | Published: January 28, 2010
Business jargon is good. There, we've said it.
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Nouns as verbs – not all bad

By Paul W | Published: January 14, 2010
Being 'platformed' is indeed a terrible thing, even for an unreliable British train carriage. But nouns turning into verbs (verbifying, perhaps? Maybe not) is just part of linguistic development.
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Brutal warnings

By Paul W | Published: December 13, 2009
"Fragile - handle with care"... Does anyone ever take any notice when that's printed on the box ? Seems like some manufacturers have realised that language needs to be more hard-hitting...
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When money speaks louder than words

By Paul W | Published: December 10, 2009
Yes, we’re talking about hedge fund websites. They make Google look wordy. I guess it’s a simple way of saying: “If you need to know anything about what we do, then you’re clearly not our sort.” At 41 words, including the phone number, Amiya Capital is exceptionally cool. Whereas IV Capital, sporting 147 words, is [...]
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The plainest book ever, on arguably the most important subject in human history

By Paul W | Published: December 10, 2009
David JC MacKay’s ‘Sustainable Energy Without the Hot Air‘ has justly won plaudits for being the first objective, level-headed assessment of our energy problem. MacKay is that wonderful and rare combination, an articulate physicist. His opening chapter, entitled ‘numbers not adjectives’ crisply summarises the book’s argument: do the maths, then look for the solution. Don’t [...]
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Reductio ad absurdum

By Paul W | Published: December 10, 2009
It’s remarkable how little harrumphing is caused by Twitter. Elder digerati such as Stephen Fry and the excellent John Naughton seem utterly captivated by an app that, on the face of it, allows for the high-speed dissemination of inanity on a global scale. Perhaps it’s at least in part because there is something excellent about [...]
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Issue 12, June 2005

By Paul W | Published: June 30, 2005
================================================ THE PLAIN TEXT GAZETTE – Issue 12, June 2005 ================================================ Contents ——– * Editorial * Blogs and business writing * Powerpoint: why? * Words we hate: and another one Editorial ——— It seems that our rant about straplines in the last Plain Text Gazette has had little effect. In the recent UK general election the two main parties had a battle of the straplines (or [...]
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