Business English is a useful art, not a fine art; its purpose is to gain profit

Communication World, April-May, 2003 by Alden Wood

Do you think your boss writes the ultimate in hard-assed memoranda? You may want to adjust your thinking once you've studied this vintage exchange. Seems Britain's Vice Admiral Louis Mountbatten, then chief of combined operations, was seeking his boss's support in developing an idea for an artificial harbor; he made his case and received the following response:

"PIERS FOR USE ON BEACHES

"To C.C.O. or deputy.

"They must float up and down with the tide. The anchor problem must be mastered. Let me have the best solution worked out. Don't argue the matter. The difficulties will argue for themselves."

The message was shipped "30. 5. 42.", from 10 Downing Street, Whitehall, and signed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Sir, yes sir, we'll get right on that, sir.

* David O. Russell, who is v.p.--external affairs, Verizon Communications, Irving, Texas, e-mails, "As an ABC member for years, I appreciate your Wood on Words column in Communication World and in the Aug/Sept 2002 issue, you used the word 'lede' to refer to the initial paragraph of a news article. I couldn't find this spelling in my Webster's dictionary and I've always assumed the word was just spelled 'lead' until I saw your article. Can you shed some light on the origins of... 'lede'?"

Lede is legitimate usage if you choose to agree with Richard Weiner in his Webster's New World Dictionary of Media and Communications (Macmillan, 1996), where the variant term is defined as "the correct, original spelling (though it is rarely used) for lead, as used in journalism. It may refer to the first sentence or the first part of an article, or to the primary piece, or lead article, in a publication." Here Weiner segues neatly to leder, "(pronounced leeder) a major article, as in columns one and six on page one of The Wall Street Journal."

Reader Russell observes that lede does not show up in "my Webster's dictionary."

Those who write for a living are well advised to shun phrases like "I'll look in my Webster's" or "Check it out in your Webster's dictionary." More than a half-dozen Webster's dictionaries are available, led by Merriam-Webster's Collegiate (the boss since the mid-1800s), Webster's New World College, and Random House Webster's College. And today the Webster's crowd is getting heavy jostling from American Heritage IV and the new Microsoft Encarta Dictionary published by St. Martin's Press.

Pick your linguistic resource and use its full name; people expect us to know these things.

* Alison Griffin, who is a proofreader of this excellent publication, writes from her aerie in Richmond, Va., to complain that "the word 'disinterested' has taken on a new and twisted meaning in our fast-growing global illiteracy movement." She cites several instances in which area newspapers employed disinterested where uninterested was called for; then she uncovered three similar missteps in a biography of Lady Caroline Lamb.

Both the AP Stylebook and Libel Manual and The Wall Street Journal's Guide to Business Style and Usage print the following identical definitions at disinterested, uninterested:

"Disinterested means impartial, which is usually the better word to convey the thought."

"Uninterested means that someone lacks interest."

In his "Words on Words" John B. Bremner adds, "If you are uninterested, you have no interest; you are indifferent. If you are disinterested, you may be interested, but you have no self-interest; you are impartial, unbiased."

* I picked up an intriguing hardcover book last week. What follows runs on page 1: "Business English is a useful art rather than a fine art. Its purpose, like the purpose of business, is to gain profit. This profit may come through the immediate response of the reader or through establishing his goodwill for later response.

"The value of a business English message is, therefore, determined by its effectiveness in securing favorable response from those to whom it is directed, It is the art of impression rather than expression."

Solid advice from Harper & Brothers Publishers, printed in 1920. Plus ca change...

Alden Weed, quondam lecturer en editorial procedures, Simmons College, Boston, USA, writes and lectures on language usage.

He in a retired insurance industry vice president of advertising and public relations.

His e-dress is WondonWords@aol.com