The government can’t ‘phase out’ Latin from the English language

In his essay, Politics and the English Language, George Orwell famously exhorted writers to be cautious of allowing ready words or prefabricated phrases to affect whatever it was he or she wished to articulate. ‘Let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about,’ he wrote.

Seventy years on, Whitehall Mandarins have spoken. ‘We promote the use of plain English on GOV.UK,’ writes one of their number from the Government Digital Service, announcing a new policy on which words cannot be used on government websites. ‘We advocate simple, clear language. Terms like eg, ie and etc, while common, make reading difficult for some.’

As a result, ostensibly to make their web outpourings more comprehensible to non-native speakers of English (good luck with that), these Latin abbreviations are now to be banned on government sites. ‘So we’re phasing them out,’ says the writer blithely.