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Plain English, please

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Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know.
United States Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in a press briefing


The Plain English Campaign each year present awards for clear - and baffling - use of English. Above statement is this years winner in the Foot in Mouth category for a baffling quote by a public figure. There are several additional categories.

Other interesting content on the campaign's website:

Everyone should have a copy of NASA's indispensable Handbook for Technical Writers and Editors - Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization anyway.

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