Politics and the English Language — George Orwell

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Essay thesis

Orwell argues that bad language and bad politics reinforce each other. Bad prose is not just ugly; it helps conceal and produce bad thought. > It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. > Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.

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Fatalism about decline

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Orwell rejects the idea that bad English is inevitable. Fatalism treats language like a natural growth rather than an instrument people shape. > It is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. > Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.

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The vicious circle

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Thought and language form a feedback loop. Foolish thought makes language ugly; ugly language makes foolish thought easier. > A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. > But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.

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Reversibility

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Bad habits spread by imitation, but they can be avoided. Clear prose is therefore a political act, not just a literary preference. > The process is reversible. > To think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration.

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Two common faults

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The five specimens share stale imagery and lack of precision. Concrete thought melts into abstract prefabrication. > The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision. > Prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning.

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Dying metaphors

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Worn-out metaphors save writers from making fresh images. Mixed metaphors prove the writer is not seeing what the words claim to show. > A newly invented metaphor assists thought by evoking a visual image. > The sole aim of a metaphor is to call up a visual image.

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