The New Normal We Can All Work Toward
We hear a lot these days about The New Normal. It’s what we’ve called the world in pandemic mode where everyone is trying to follow changing public health advice, changing work situations, changing income programs, and changing daily life.
Plain language and clear communication are vital now, and they need to be part of The New Normal. And they can be.
We know the hygiene practices by heart: “wash your hands,” “stay home if you’re sick,” “stay 2 metres from other people,” and “wear a mask when you can’t keep your distance.” We know to be kind to each other because everyone is suffering to some extent.
But it’s hard for people to keep going in The New Normal: we’re exhausted by the change that affects nearly everything. Our lives now include Zoom meetings and working from home. There’s even new language, like social distancing and physical distancing.
And there are signs. Everywhere. This one, below, is on the doors of a shopping mall, and it raises a lot of questions:
Why “a face covering” rather than “a mask”?
Why “prior to entering” instead of “before you come in”?
And why all capital letters?
None of this is helpful to people who don’t read well—they do shop. Or people who don’t read English well. They also shop. And the bizarrely formal language further stresses out people who are already worried.
The illustration does much of what is needed: it reminds me to put on a mask when I go into a place where other people will be. The spots on the floor in the mall are good visual reminders of how far apart to stand.
Wearing a mask and keeping your distance are life-saving and economy-saving advice: they will let us keep working and shopping while protecting human health.
Clear, friendly language and a simple illustration would do this important job perfectly.
If you would like to create clearer information for the public, my Editing for Plainer Legal Language course begins September 21. You can register here. Other courses at the Plain Language Academy will also help you write so that readers will understand the first time. Find us at plainlanguageacademy.com.