George Orwell’s article ‘Politics and the English Language’ relates in many ways to his book 1984. It discusses the ‘bad way’ in which the English language is. Orwell explains in many convincing arguments how and why the language we speak gets worse from day to day. He says that ‘language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes’. That’s what he thinks and so he demonstrates how it could be if it wasn’t, in 1984. There they invent the Newspeak that constantly evolves, gets simpler and simpler and forbids the citizens of Oceania to say what they want. Orwell says that our thoughts are foolish. So what if it was forbidden to think the way we do? He imagines the outcome for us in his book, where thoughtcrime exists, and where you have to use doublethink to forget about your emotions and memories.
To avoid humbug and vagueness in words he recommends to:
1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long words here a short one will do.
3. If it’s possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules than say anything barbarous.
When you read through Orwell’s essay, you get the feeling that everything you ever said was nonsense. In his opinion, we use verbal false limbs, pretentious diction (‘scientific words’) and meaningless words. But what happens when we stop using all of these words? Wouldn’t we just turn out to speak another version of Newspeak? I personally think that his resolution is quite pleasing. I’ve always hated complicated words in all languages that I know because all they do is: they give you a hard time. In school we learn how important it is to use sophisticated words. In English class we can’t just come up with our simplest vocabulary when it comes to writing an essay. And in Biology class we have to use scientific and latinized words in order to get a good grade. On the other hand, I agree that people tend to use all these words to sound smarter. Only, the thing is that it isn’t the word that makes them smarter; it’s the fact that no one has a clue what he’s talking about that does.
Politicians often use words to sound more educated. I agree with that, I think that when you look back in our history, you notice that many politicians (especially the ones that ended up causing trouble at some point) use foreign words to sound smarter. If you present these words with a certain passion and some enthusiasm, it’s easy to fool people by making them believe that you’re saying something completely different from what you’re actually saying. And it is a little impressing when someone has la grandeur to express themselves in so many ways that die Verwirrung is massive, isn’t it?
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