Now here’s a spin…from fellow business writers in the U.K., where sometimes “for the sake of good business relationships, it pays to be wordy and indirect.”

Good Copy, Bad Copy » How to master the peculiarly English art of the polite command.

I’m horrified to realize I write like this, too.

Just yesterday I e-mailed someone: “Would you be able to reply with your edits by the end of the week?” (Translation: Please send me your edits by Friday.)

How polite and passively assertive of me.