Thanks for giving me a link to the Plain English Foundation site, maxsims. I've looked over the site with great interest, but I left it with a very uneasy feeling. Australian English may be in safe hands under the aegis of that foundation, but I do think that plain English need not be that plain and that it need not be as sterile as the English of that website. English trainers need not be gorgeous or debonair, for God's sake, but they need not be
all that plain and unexciting! They must at least be interesting and lively in disposition, and the advertising and promotions for them arresting and a joy to read. For who in his right mind would ever want to train under specialists "in
plain English training, writing, editing, and public speaking and events"? I'd rather train under
competent specialists in good,
plain, and simple English--whether it's in the area of writing, editing, public speaking, and events! And why would anyone want to study under "a
plain English trainer and an experienced ESL teacher"? I'd rather study under a reasonably good-featured trainer in
plain English, even if he or she isn't as experienced as an altogether
plain-looking teacher! And finally, maxsims, I admit that I'm a stickler for good English prose, but I don't think I'd ever like or enjoy being edited by "a
plain English editor and writer"--even if he or she has sterling credentials and all the fancy titles from the fanciest universities in the world!
Perhaps the resource persons and trainers of the Plain English Foundation are really great shakes--I'll grant the foundation that--but I do think that the quest for plain English need not be carried to deadening, rock-bottom proportions--at least not to the level of the English of that website!