17 April 2011

merchandizers' trap



Driven by the wish to learn more about Celine Condorelli's and Gavin Wade's project for the new function of the The Economist Plaza ground floor space, I am holding this book in my hands. As an introduction to the chapter: Navigate the Terrain, there is an excerpt from the Economist Style Book. Some instruction along the lines strangely resonate with the government politics in UK these days:

"Community is another word often best cut out. Not only it is usually unnecessary, it purports to convey the sense of togetherness that may well not exist."
...
I am also struggling to conceptualize what does it mean to be productive in this society and the following quote just does not help me much: "In general be concise. Try to be economical in your size and argument."
...
"TONE The reader is primarily interested in what you have to say. By the way in which you say it you may encourage him either to read on or stop reading."
...
"Use the language of everyday speech, not that of spokesmen, lawyers or bureaucrats ( so prefer let to permit, people to persons, buy to purchase, colleague to peer, way out to exit, present to gift, rich to wealthy, break to violate).
Economists just know it too well how to melt our hearts, don't they?

More on The Economist Plaza project at Support Structure

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