Federalese, legalese, technscalese

Plain English has not often been a common attribute of government, business/legal, or technical documents. The three articles reprinted here do the following: (1) Examine the Federal problem and indicate the line of attack; (2) describe the (widely applicable) steps taken to revise some consumer contracts; and (3) expand (with a touch of humor) some telecommunications jargon into working definitions. [Ed.]