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Old 12-Nov-2003, 03:06
Hong Kong Chinese
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Default Clumsy (Law) English vs plain English

I have taken down the following notice from a litter container.

The refuse removal service of this litter container is undertaken by the cleansing contractor, Champion Cleaning Transport Company Limited and supervised by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The contractor should remove all refuse inside the litter container (including astray) three times daily, to be completed 10:00 am, 3:30 pm and 9:00 pm.

Do you think that the wording of this notice is clumsy?
It is strange that the contractor only needs to remove the rubbish inside the litter container. If someone puts rubbish on the ground near the litter container, does the contractor have obligation to clean it up?
For your information, the ashtray is on top of the litter container.

What is the difference of these two words – cleanse and clean?
As far as I remember, we can cleanse our souls.
Can we clean our souls?
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Old 12-Nov-2003, 03:26
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The notice is very clumsily worded and probably needs only half as many words as it has. Also, it should be cleaning contractor.

Offhand, to cleanse something is to do a more thorough job than to clean it.

Quote:
As far as I remember, we can cleanse our souls.
I seem to remember that too.

Quote:
Can we clean our souls?
I don't think so.

:wink:
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