politics and english language by george orwell summary

Never use a long word where a short one will do.Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?.Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?.What image or idiom will make it clearer?.Scrupulous writers need to ask of every sentence:.When the general atmosphere is bad, language must suffer.

When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.Phrases like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired, would serve no good purpose, a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind are a continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins at one’s elbow. A speaker who uses this kind of thoughtless phraseology has gone some distance towards turning himself into a machine – the appropriate noises are coming out but the brain is not engaged.Once you have the habit, it is easier and can even be quicker to say In my opinion it is a not unjustifiable assumption that… than to say I think.Meaningless words: values, sentimental, dead, totalitarian, progressive.Pretentious diction: phenomenon, primary, utilize, constitute, epoch-making, age-old, veritable, liquidate.Operators or verbal false limbs: render inoperative, militate against, give rise to, have the effect of.Dying metaphors: ring the changes, toe the line, stand shoulder to shoulder with, explore every avenue, leave no stone unturned.Words become replaced with phrases, tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.

It’s a mixture of vagueness and incompetence. Dead language has two common qualities: staleness of imagery and lack of precision.If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. The language becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, and the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. Language and thought are interrelated.Our civilisation is decadent, and our language must inevitably share in the general collapse. Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it.

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and vice versa – w e can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end.

Politics and english language by george orwell summary