Editorial—Plain English

Editorial-Plain English The French Parliament has just passed a new law which bans 3500 foreign words from use by advertisers, schools, governments and corporations. The ban is to take immediate effect. Most of the foreign loan words are English. Under the recent law 'mots Fran~ais' must be used instead. The raison d'etre is dislike of 'Franglais', so the coup de grace has been applied. How this law applies to use of English words in French medical science is unclear. Many 'foreign' words are well established in the French language-a syntax ecesis, as are French words and phrases in the English language. For better or for worse, English is the common language of international scientific communication. Whilst each culture has the desire and the right to perpetuate its language in general, medical communications-journals and symposia, having no international boundaries or cultural constraintsdemand the clarity of purpose which may be denied by the pursuit of purely social and intellectual interests. Without crispness of intercourse, direction may be confused. It is a fundamental requirement of medicine to communicate our understanding of disease and disorders so that universal treatments or prevention can be effected. If this process of communication requires the injection of 'foreign' words according to common usage, then well and good. In language matters the written word is far more critical than the spoken word. Spoken English is not as precise a language as French, often utilizing many meaningless and repetitive phrases. These are the hallmark of less educated conversationalists but not exclusively so. Such expressions as; 'you know', 'basically', 'no anyway', 'may I say this', 'to be blunt', 'without fear of contradiction'. Many of these phrases are the tools of politicians who specialize in talking without saying too much. Bivalence is their stock in trade but not ours. How many presentations at medical symposia are readily transcribed into articles that are worth the space they would occupy? It is all too easy in spoken presentations to obscure facts, create false empha-

sis, be less critical than necessary and overlook historical perspectives. The Journals reviewers not only have the task of considering scientific veracity but expression, i.e. language content. Revision of manuscripts and rejection are more commonplace than primary acceptance. Communication through the spoken and written word though is the stuff of science and medicine. In ophthalmology we have moved to an era of specialization so that as in the past, when ophthalmology progressed as a practice from its conjoined ENT speciality, so today specialist meetings have overtaken the general. Specialist groups have to move with the times assimilating related areas of practice, for example the assumption of an interest in refractive surgery by cataract surgeons should not be regarded as accidental. Lens surgery is and will continue to be the most widely practised form of refractive surgery that exists. Special interest groups have to adumbrate the consequences of development. There is however a critical mass of major specialist meetings that can be self supporting which are readily identified by geography and spacing throughout the annual calendar. Ophthalmologists world-wide should conjoin and pour their efforts into the adequacy of specialist meetings that exist today for ESCRS, ASCRS, ISRK, AAO, APAO, ARVO and national meetings provide more than a sufficiency of opportunity for ophthalmic intercourse. We should focus our efforts in more ways than one. Adventitious meetings strain the axiopisty of too many presentations which are often anfractous or apatetic. Pleniloquence and verisimilitude go hand in hand. Whilst griffonnage may be the long standing hallmark of the medical profession, rather than quaddle just let us speak and write plain English but if necessary borrow a few words or phrases from other languages to facilitate the dynamic nature of language development.

0955-3681/94/030127+01 $08.00/0 © 1994 W.B. Saunders Company Limited

EMANUEL ROSEN

Editor

Eur J Implant Ref Surg, Vol 6, June 1994