Plain English Campaign (PEC) is a
commercial editing and training firm based in the United Kingdom.
Founded in 1979 by Chrissie Maher, the company positions itself as a
leader in plain language advocacy. Often described in the media as a
pressure group, PEC
encourages organisations to use simple, understandable language for
public information, which can include contracts, terms and
conditions and bills. Plain English is defined as "language that the
intended audience can understand and act upon from a single
reading".
|
 |
PEC has worked all over the world for companies
and organisations including British Gas, British Telecom, Irish
Life, Telefónica O2 and the World Bowls association. It has also
worked with the majority of UK council and government departments.
Many UK forms and bills carry the Crystal Mark, including the
British Passport application form. |
PEC
provides a document certification service to organisations,
which allows the organisation to use the widely-recognised
crystal mark on the document to certify that it is written
in plain English. The campaign makes use of the word gobbledygook
to refer to the kind of tortuous and confusing English it is
campaigning against, and every year a Golden Bull award is made
for the worst example. There is also a Foot in Mouth award for
"a baffling quote by a public figure".
In 2003
it drew widespread criticism when it gave its Foot In Mouth award to
the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, for this statement:
"Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting
to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things
we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to
say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also
unknown unknowns — the ones we don’t know we don’t know". The
campaign commented: "We think we know what he means. But we don’t
know if we really know".
Journalists and academics soon leapt to Rumsfeld's defence, saying
that he was talking sense, moreover sense expressed in the simplest
words available, ones that the Plain English Campaign should have
been applauding, not criticising. Mr Rumsfeld's statement might need
work to appreciate, because he was talking philosophy. As one
commentator said "perhaps the campaign only believes in plain
thinking".
Many
legal and governmental organisations in the UK now use plain English
in their public documents. The language used often resembles special
English and has been criticised as over-simplified. This points to
the challenge facing those who communicate with the public: how to
get their ideas across in plain language without losing force or
precision.
