The importance of using clear, accurate language in explaining the problems that face a nation like Guyana cannot be too strongly emphasized. We are too often treated to stale metaphors, continually re-cycled phrases, dreadful jargon and lazy writing of all kinds as we seek enlightenment in these complex and challenging times.
A scrupulously honest writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself five questions: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What images will make it clearer? Are those images fresh enough to have an effect? Could I put it more shortly? But I fear what actually happens is that too many shirk this duty and simply throw the mind open to let the ready-made phrases come crowding in. The style is lifeless, repetitive, muddled and filled with clichés. The expressions emerge mechanically but somehow there is no feeling that an individual brain is involved as there would be if the writer was thinking hard and clearly and choosing words and phrases with great care.
