Plain English is a Kindness

Thoughts on communication, clarity and the small edits that make everyday life easier.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve started confusing complicated with clever.

Simple emails become “communications.”

Problems become “challenges.”

Working together becomes “leveraging synergies.”

Sometimes I wonder if we’re all expected to carry a corporate phrasebook just to understand each other.

The irony is that the more important the conversation, the more valuable plain English becomes.

Over the years, I’ve worked with people from many different countries and cultures. English wasn’t everyone’s first language, yet some of the most productive meetings I was ever part of had one thing in common.

People spoke clearly.

They didn’t use unnecessary jargon.

They didn’t try to impress the room.

They simply explained what needed to happen.

Good communication isn’t about sounding intelligent.

It’s about being understood.

There’s a confidence in saying exactly what you mean without wrapping it in layers of fashionable language.

If there’s a problem, say there’s a problem.

If you’ve made a mistake, say you’ve made a mistake.

If you need help, ask for it.

Most of us don’t need bigger words.

We need fewer of them.

That doesn’t mean dumbing things down. It means respecting the person reading or listening. It means making your message easier to understand rather than harder to decode.

I think the same applies beyond business.

Conversations become easier when people stop performing and start communicating.

Relationships improve when people say what they actually mean.

Even writing becomes more enjoyable when you stop trying to sound impressive and simply sound like yourself.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve always believed that plain English isn’t just good writing.

It’s a kindness.

It saves people time.

It reduces misunderstandings.

It helps everyone feel included.

And in a world, that’s already noisy enough, that’s no small thing.

Perhaps the best edit we can make isn’t adding more words. It’s having the confidence to remove the ones we never needed in the first place.