Meaningless words are also used in variable meanings, and in most cases, dishonestly:Įx. These words do not point to any discoverable object. : romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality Orwell recommends never using a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.Įx. phenomenon, element, individual (as a noun), objective, categorical, effective, virtual, basic, primary, promote, constitute, exhibit, exploit, utilize, eliminate, liquidate Pretentious diction is words that dress up simple statements to give an air of culture, elegance, or scientific impartiality to biased judgments.Įx. They save trouble instead of forcing the writer to pick out appropriate nouns and verbs, and pad sentences with extra syllables to give the appearance of symmetry. render inoperative (instead of “stop”), have the effect of (instead of “causes”), prove unacceptable (“we disagreed”), make contact with (“we talked”), be subject to (“we’ll sue you”) While a useful metaphor is meant to assist thought by evoking a visual image, a dying metaphor produces almost no imagery.Īn operator is when a verb becomes a phrase.Įx. “stand shoulder to shoulder”, “time is running out”, “brand new”, “deadline” Orwell points to four common problems with modern English prose which obstruct our communication:Ī dying metaphor is a stale metaphor that has lost its power used to save people the trouble of inventing new imagery.Įx. Note that cleaning up our language has little to do with correct grammar, syntax, or having what’s called a ‘good prose style’ and much more to do with making one’s meaning clearer, ridding ourselves of phrases that do the thinking for us, and letting the meaning choose the word and not the other way around. By pulling on the lever of language-that is, by cleaning it up-we can begin to push society in a healthy direction. We forget that society and the English language are conscious processes meant to suit our desires. Much like the culture of eighty years ago, the language of politicians is filled with vague, insincere, meaningless, and pretentious language, and the discourse surrounding our culture seems increasingly lazy and lacks precision.
While the essay was published in 1946, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that not much has changed since then in the realm of language and politics.
Society and the English language are in a bad spot, writes Orwell in his essay Politics & The English Language. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.
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