Language news

Irish police have discovered that Polish man Prawo Jazdy, wanted for motoring offences, is on their computer database listed at fifty separate addresses, The Irish Times reports.

In Polish, prawo jazdy means driving licence.

Ode to the sub-editor

Sub-editors are a dying breed thanks to the internet. There are all sorts of reasons given but the real reasons are these:

• Money
• Money
• erm... money

The truth is that the web is causing many publishers to re-evaluate their processes and when they stop to think about it, they cannot work out why they ever had subs. They are forced to rethink production for new media but while they are at it, they think, let's save some money.

In case you need reminding, here is what a sub-editor is for:

• Reduces the chances of your being sued
• Stops your writers looking like fools (when they cannot spell accommodate or get the name right of the person they spent four hours interviewing)
• Removes the waffle and pretensions that afflict all writers
• Sells the story (so people actually want to read it)

The change of medium does not dilute any of these reasons. In fact, since it is a vastly more competitive arena for information, the last of these is more important than ever.

One spurious reason increasingly cited for doing away with subs is that idea that somehow they get in the way of the real-time, dynamic dialogue that can exist between journalist and reader on the web. In its finest hour, the conversational tone of the web creates astonishing tendrils of communication.

But in practice, mostly what it does is encourage some perfectly good writers to become waffley and self-obsessed.

So let's hear it for a return to pith rather than taking the . . .

The sound of writing

The secret of good writing is to listen. Philip Eales and Alan Whicker taught me this. Good writing has to sound good. Write something and read it back to yourself in a Whicker voice. If it sounds right then it generally reads well.

Of course, if you have no idea who Alan Whicker is, this approach may be problematic.

Philip Eales gave me the idea. When we were at school together he went around for some weeks imitating Whicker saying:
The gay cops of San Francisco. A world within a world. A community within a community. Where good is bad and bad is about as good as you're going to get.

I've no idea if Whicker ever actually said this (he did do a programme on the gay cops of San Francisco) but it has his cadence and the joy of repetition and balanced sentences. The point is that Whicker's writing had to sound good because his audience listened rather than read.



Here is how the approach can be used to improve (I hope) some copy:

Version 1
A quiet revolution is taking place in wireless that promises new operational and cost efficiencies for cellular base stations and handsets. Dubbed software defined radio (SDR), the development involves implementing radio functions in software. A simple enough technology trend, you may think, but with it comes significant ramifications for the wireless industry. And its biggest benefit is still to come: software defined radio is an important enabler of dynamic radio spectrum allocation that will benefit service providers and end users alike.

I like quiet revolution but it is kind of lost because the first sentence takes you down the garden path.

What about a full stop after wireless to give it more punch (you could even delete "in wireless" because it will probably be obvious from the context).

Could new operational and cost efficiencies be cheaper and easier?

Version 2:

A quiet revolution is taking place. The development, dubbed software defined radio (SDR), promises to prolong the life of cellular base stations while simplifying the design of smart phones. Implementing radio functions in software is a simple enough technology development, you may think. But with it comes significant industry ramifications. Indeed the biggest benefit is still to occur: SDR will help open up new spectrum once mobile operators' own exclusive bands become choked with data.

Now listen to the sound it makes. Try, for example, saying implementing radio functions in software is a simple enough technology development out loud.

Version 3:
A quiet revolution is taking place. Software defined radio (SDR) promises to prolong the life of cellular base stations while simplifying the design of smart phones. But the biggest benefit is yet to come. Mobile operators' own bands are fast becoming choked with data and SDR will help them open up new spectrum.

Short-long-short-long (like dancing) works quite well for flow. We could really do with another short at the end to tease people into starting the next par. Something like:
The challenge is getting everyone to agree.

The second sentence gives us an the opportunity for a balanced sentence of the type Whicker might use:
(SDR) promises to prolong the life of base stations and shorten the design-cycle of smart phones.

Version 4:
A quiet revolution is taking place. Software defined radio (SDR) promises to prolong the life of base stations and shorten the design-cycle of smart phones. But the biggest benefit is yet to come. Mobile operators' own bands are fast becoming choked with data and SDR will help them open up new spectrum. The challenge is getting everyone to agree.

Not quite the gay cops of San Francisco but getting there, I think. Many thanks to the anonymous donor of the original copy.

California latest to block UK libel

California is the latest US State to initiate laws to block libel judgments from countries (such as the UK) that do not offer US levels of protection for free speech, Press Gazette reports.

Clear, concise writing examples

Before	After
To support the proposed changes to policy and practice it is felt that a strong influence should be cascaded from the management population.	Managers will need to push the policy changes.
The procedure aims to encourage a dialogue in the workplace between employer and employee about how to meet both parties' needs. Therefore the meeting should be structured in such a way as to allow open two-way discussion about the employee's request.	You should talk with the employee to see if there is a way to keep everyone happy.
If frequent occurrences of sickness absence have been identified, careful investigation and consultation needs to be undertaken with the employee to establish whether there is an underlying problem.	If someone is off sick often, you should talk with them to see if there is a reason behind it.