Speketh so Pleyne

Following a subtle inner prompting, which went something like "you could put more effort into your writing Mugo", I took the plunge and bought a book at Chapters with my gift card. It is called Oxford Guide to Plain English, a compelling read and chock full of easy to digest instructions. Here is a definintion of plain English writing, quoted from the book:

The writing and setting out of essential information in a way that gives a co-operative, motivated person a good chance of understanding it as first reading, and in the same sense that the writer meant it to be understood.

Who hasn't read an official document of some kind and ended up non the wiser? The plea for plain English has been around for a long time. Quoting from the book again:

In the fourteenth century Chaucer had one of his characters demand:

Speketh so pleyne at this time, I yow preye

That we may undersonde what ye seye.

My Master, Rev. Jiyu-Kennett, was very keen on the accurate use of words and encouraged us to choose them with great care when speaking and writing. And Rev. Master Daizui, the former Head of the Order (OBC), a real wordsmith if ever there was one wrote 'Buddhism From Within' which he would refer to as Buddhism in plain English. So I'm developing a deeper appreciation for the need to choose words wisely and to string them together more mindfully.