We quoted in this space on Friday an editorial by the UK Telegraph on a victory by the Plain English Campaign over the use of the word “ambient” to describe English-made sausage rolls.

It seems the Co-operative chain of supermarkets had been selling its sausage rolls as “ambient” to mean that the product was neither chilled nor hot, but just room-temperature, chambre.

Chrissie Maher. OBE and founder of Plain English Campaign, could not take it anymore and said, “These sausage rolls have escaped from the technical production lines of the food industry to bring confusion and ruin the ‘ambience’ of our lunch breaks.”

“Ambient,” from the word “ambience” (or ambiance), escapes easy definition. Even the language-loving Brits said they did not know what the term meant. They pressed the Co-op to reprint the labels on the sausage rolls.

“Ambiance” is a favorite word among Filipino food and restaurant critics who use it to describe the special character, mood or atmosphere of a place. The restaurant’s food and service may be lousy but what ambiance! Former President Erap Estrada once said ambiance is the hidden cost of expensive eateries, or words to that effect.

When you drink unchilled bottled water, you could say it’s ambient. But never mind. The Britons will now be saying goodbye to ambient sausage rolls, in the same manner they gave up the two-decker buses, unarmed Bobbies and ceremonial wigs for magistrates.

Plain English Day

Before President Gloria Arroyo leaves office, she should sign an Executive Order proclaiming a National Plain English Day.

On Plain English Day, lawyers will pledge to keep their language simple, lawmakers will pass a resolution vowing clearly worded bills and journalists will publish newspapers completely rid of jargon, clichés and overused/abused words and phrases.

Plain English Day is dedicated to the proposition that all government and private documents, reports and publications could be written in simple, understandable English. Instructional manuals/guides and product labels could be models of crystal-clear instructions.

It shall be observed in schools, law firms, Congress, editorial rooms, Malacañang, the courts, advertising and PR agencies and other places where English is taught or used extensively, in offices that write, prepare or issue rules, bills, contracts, advertisements commercials and public information.

The highlight of the day is the burning or the shredding of official documents at the foot of Mendiola Bridge. The program shall be short and the main speech limited to five minutes or less.

GMA’s executive order should name a Presidential Assistant on Plain Language to advise Palace speechwriters, drafters of press releases and rule-makers in the Civil Service Commission and the Cabinet departments. She should create an Office of Translation to explain half-understood laws and memorandums.

The Plain English Day celebration is incomplete without an Executive Committee. We nominate former Senator Kit Tatad, advocate of decorous prose and perennial volunteer for the style committee at international meetings. The members may include Jose Carillo, The Manila Times language cop, and former Sen. Orly Mercado who has filed a bill pushing simple English.

Gobble, gobble

Journalese could be as tricky, confusing and dense as the language of utility bills.

Consider the words operationalize, institutionalize, utilize, normalize, finalize, personalize and materialize.
What do they really mean? Pinoys have even invented “fiscalize,” a word that does not exist.

Verbiage afflicts the following phrases: health condition, slum area, protest action, top priority, track record, weather condition, heavy downpour entrapment operation, kidnap-for-ransom gang and owner-type jeep.

Wordy are rules and regulations, peace and order, moot and academic, graft and corruption, and trust and confidence.

Throw in crime incidents, fire incidents, poverty incidence and strike incidents.

Overused are the words assistance (help, aid), funding (money, cash), stakeholder (participant, player), spearhead (lead, head) and implement (carry out).

R.A. 1234 is otherwise known as “The Anti-Alias Act of 2010.” We use presidentiable and senatoriable but never congressmaniable.

Avoid euphemisms. Use squatter for informal settler, prostitute for commercial sex worker and poor for the less privileged. Revenue enhancement, of course, is tax collection and a bedspacer is a dorm boarder.
Say entrapment instead of buy-bust. Undergo and undertake could go through a face-lift.

But journalese could also oversimplify words and reduce them to sticks, like rehab (for rehabilitation), destab (for destabilization), infra (infrastructure) and nego (negotiation). No-el (no election), of course, could lead to no-proc (no proclamation).