The Plain Language

Stuart Chase's "Gobbledygook" makes a powerful case for plain language. Even today, in many of the legal and business documents, we can find the use of "windy and pretentious language." He defines gobbledygook as "squandering words, packing a message with excess baggage and so introducing semantic noise."
Avoid tautologies like "give and convey."
Clear language speaks of clear thought.
Clarity and brevity.
Avoid long-windedness, foggy meanings, cliches ....
Avoid gross neglect of the readers' point of view.

Zinsser "Writing in Your Job" has a similar point to make. The most important thing to be considered while writing customer documents is the "respect for humanity." That they need to talk to "real people."
Use sentences and words that are "short and have air around them" conveying "the rhythm of human speech."
"Use short words and vivid images from everyday life."
The writing should be "warm and personal."
Use active verbs avoiding "windy concept nouns."
Avoid generalizations.
In many documents customers have to translate every sentence because of the generalized and abstract writing.
Simple style is the result of hard work.
Alan Siegel's "The Plain English Revolution" has the same point to make. His point is "simplify, simplify." MAKE FUNCTIONAL DOCUMENTS FUNCTIONAL.
DOs: use personal tone, simplify, provide explanatory phrases for unfamiliar terms that cannot be eliminated, shorten sentence, improve design for enhancing understanding, provide illustrative examples.
University of Wisconsin's "Guide to Nonsexist Language" provides ways to avoid the use of sexist language. It provides two rules to check sex bias, "Would you say the same thing about a person of the opposite sex? Would you like it said about you?"
Lutz's "The World of Double Speak" also deals with the similar problem in various fields like government, business, and legal worlds. Doublespeak is the "incongruity between what is said and what is reality." He talks of four kinds of doublespeak:
1. Euphemism
2. Jargon
3. Gobbledygook
4. Inflated Language
Doublespeak is all around us. It is dangerous as it intends to mislead us rather than leading us to reality.