Dr. Seuss Is Helping Bankers Write More Clearly

Dr. Seuss books are more than just childhood staples—apparently, they’ve become important training tools at the Bank of England. As The Guardian reports, the bank’s former deputy governor, Dame Nemat Shafik, confirmed this last weekend. Shafik told attendees of the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts that famous books by Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel) are used in training to help Bank of England employees write more clearly.

Titles used in this training include How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Cat in the Hat. According to Shafik, bank reports were being written using language that was too complex, making the reports difficult to understand for roughly 80% of readers. It became necessary to use “very simple language and very short words” to make the reports more readable, so the bank turned to the popular children’s author’s work for help.

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia

“Dr. Seuss was a master at using simple language, at getting children to read,” Shafik said. To make economics more accessible and engaging for the general population, writing about banking more simply is a great place to start.

Personally, I hope this idea takes off and companies everywhere start releasing information in pleasantly metered stanzas. Something like:

Welcome to Facebook! It’s nice to see you.

Last time you logged in was at quarter to two.

You made it eight minutes! You missed quite a lot.

Several more of your friends got engaged. You did not.

Or:

Our work here at BuzzFeed is vital indeed.

Who else provides quizzes Millennials need?

Just answer these questions to build your dream car,

And we’ll tell you which Disney princess you are.

Source: LA Times

Source: LA Times

I got a million of ’em, guys. I’m available to do this full-time whenever the world is ready.

YouTube Channel: Colin Macleod

 

Featured image via The Onion

h/t The Guardian