COMMERCIAL ENGLISH
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Sia,—I have read with interest the letter of J " on " Com- mercial English " in your issue of February 14th. In his con- cluding sentence " J " asks : " Would it not be possible for some firms of high standing to state, what is no doubt true, that they do not value this false English ; that it does not help their business in any way . . . ? " (the italics are mine). Surely here is a most definite reason (if only from the point of view of good business) why the practice, and above all the teaching, of this Commercial English, which is really nothing more or less than jargon, should be anathemized and discouraged. .
Jargon can be no part of good business. It serves no useful purpose. On the contrary, putting into long, unwieldy sen- tences what might be said far more clearly in fewer and shorter words, must tend to lower the standard of efficiency in business correspondence. Clear, precise thought, and the clear, precise expression, both by word and on paper, of that thought arc essential to sound business. Jargon can never be the expression of intelligent thinking.
In his interesting and instructive volume of lectures On the Writing of English, Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (and to whom could we better look for instruction in the art of clear writing?), speaking of jargon, says : " It looks precise, but it is not." And again : " But as a rule, jargon is by no means accurate, its method being to walk circumspectly around its target ; and its faith, that having done so, it has either hit the bull's-eye or at least achieved something equivalent, and safer." In short, to quote an example, Sir Arthur Quillcr-Couch himself gives : " He was conveyed to his place of residence in an intoxicated condition is the equivalent in jargon to saying, " He was carried home drunk."
" J " states that the author of the book, Commercial Prac- tice, says : " In many cases it is better to substitute a phrase to avoid repetition." Once more I cannot do better than quote Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch : " Let us turn to another trick of jargon : the trick of Elegant Variation. . . . In literature, as in life, he makes himself felt who not only calls a spade a spade, but has the pluck to double spades and re-double." I venture to say that the latter statement is as true of Commer- cial Correspondence as of Literature. Business is a matter of spades.
" But," it may be said, " you cannot expect business men toexpend as much trouble onthe writing of English as Univer- sity Dons and Graduates. To which I answer : The writing of plain, straightforward (good) English should be as easy for the average business student to learn as for the Undergraduate. And since, I take it, the student at a commercial training school is intelligent and anxious to learn, why should he not be taught how to write good English, instead of being made to search after " elegant variations and periphrases, in exercises
specially designed for that most unworthy purpose am,
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