One of the most interesting books that I read this summer was Virkapukuinen kieli (“Language in a Uniform”). This book is over ten years old, which once again confirms that novelty does not rule the book market. I was fascinated by the book’s approach: the articles examine the kinds of assumptions that governmental prose makes about its readers. Editor Vesa Heikkinen describes how citizens are viewed in a municipality’s communication strategy: the municipality is the active player; the citizen is mainly the recipient of actions. Typically, citizens are referred to in the plural, while an individual dealing with the government becomes a customer. In the same vein, residents tend to be seen as the source of opinions and questions, while the municipality itself is the source of knowledge and accuracy. Heikkinen says that it’s not realistic to go on about interaction when the citizens and the municipality are treated by the communication strategy as different kinds of beings. “Municipal government sees itself as a higher entity, a kind of overseer in charge of the important things.”