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Aucbvax.2448 fa.works utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!works Sun Jul 26 21:53:44 1981 New use for word processors >From DLO@SU-AI Sun Jul 26 21:47:19 1981 Commerce Workers Find Many Words Aren't Viable, er, Acceptable By SALLY JACOBSEN Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Management analyst Steve Piekarec has a picky word processor. It doesn't like certain words. And it doesn't hesitate to tell him so. When the machine finds a word like "viable" in a memo, it will stop and flash, "Don't Use This Word!" on its TV-like screen. It's a signal that this is one of several dozen words or phrases that Commerce Secretary Malcolm Baldrige doesn't want to see in Commerce Department letters or memos. Baldrige, a onetime cowboy who is gaining a reputation as the Reagan administration's fighter for plain talk in government, started his campaign in March to weed out overly long or incorrect language. He says he wants lean sentences, active verbs and no unnecessary adjectives or adverbs. "In short, halfway between Ernest Hemingway and Zane Grey with no bureaucratese," he tells his employees. The latest step in the drive is to fix some word processors in the department so that while scanning memos, they will tilt at the slightest ping of a forbidden word against their memory banks. The 43 words and phrases Piekarec's word processor doesn't like are: - I would hope, I would like to express my appreciation, as I am sure you know, as you are aware, as you know, at the present time, best wishes; - Bottom line, delighted, different than, enclosed herewith, finalize, glad, great majority, happy, hereinafter, hopefully, however, image, input, institutionalize;

(. . . Story continues for about 40 more lines. Send mail to DLO@SAIL for copy of complete story.)

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