ABSTRACT
Policy advice is provided orally, by memoranda, in handwritten notes, and nicely bound print-outs. Whatever the medium, the ideas are transmitted through words, and we are all aware that the choice of words and the way they are put together makes a difference. If well chosen, they set a context, convey a meaning, and help in guiding the listener’s or the reader’s understanding. That is true in poetry, novels, and drama and helps to distinguish great writing from the pedestrian and dross. All of us also recognize that words may be chosen in order to influence behavior as, for example, in advertising, sloganeering, descriptions on menus and reviews of wines, as well as other matters that at the extreme border on fiction at worst and exaggeration at best.
