LANGUAGE

"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." - George Orwell

"an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely...[language] becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts...to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration." - George Orwell

"Artists use lies to tell the truth, politicians use them to cover it up." - Evey Hammond

The language used by politicians and the media is becoming increasingly vague, and ultimately meaningless. I was surprised by the accuracy of predictions made by George Orwell in his book "Politics and the English Language" published in 1946. Some of his examples are so common in modern English that the simple versions are not immediately obvious. Many of his examples are exactly the type of language I use when trying to make myself sound more professional. In other words; it is, in my opinion, that the nature of by far the large majority of the examples that he gives, provides a precise indication as to the different types of language I would choose to make use of when attempting to enshroud myself in an air of professionalism:

"The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing...

...prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house...

OPERATORS, OR VERBAL FALSE LIMBS: These save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each sentence with extra syllables which give it an appearance of symmetry. Characteristic phrases are: render inoperative, militate against, prove unacceptable, make contact with, be subject to, give rise to, give grounds for, have the effect of, play a leading part (role) in, make itself felt, take effect, exhibit a tendancy to, serve the purpose of, etc., etc. The keynote is the elimination of simple verbs. Instead of being a single word, such as break, stop, spoil, mend, kill, a verb becomes a phrase, made up of a noun or adjective tacked on to some general-purposes verb such as prove, serve, form, play, render...by examination of instead of by examining...Simple conjunctions and prepositions are replaced by such phrases as with respect to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in view of, in the interests of, on the hypothesis that...

PRETENTIOUS DICTION. Words like phenomenon, element, individual (as noun), objective, categorical, effective, virtual, basic, primary, promote, constitute, exhibit, exploit, utilize, eliminate, liquidate, are used to dress up simple statements and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements.

...modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make there meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else...The attraction of this way of writing is that it is easy. It is easier - even quicker, one you have the habit - to say In my opinion it is not an unjustafiable assumption that than to say I think.

A scrupulous writer, in every sentence that he writes, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will express it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an effect? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more shortly? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not obliged to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you - even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent - and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connexion between politics and the debasement of language become clear.

When one watches some tired hack on the platform mechanically repeating the familiar phrases - bestial atrocities, iron heel, blood-stained tyranny, free peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder - one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human being but some kind of dummy: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the speaker's spectacles and turns them into blank discs which seem to have no eyes behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A speaker who uses that kind of phraseology has gone some distance towards turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself."

- George Orwell, Politics and the English Language, 1946. I have only quoted the passages that are relevant to this page, I strongly advise reading the entire book.

The following are some of George's examples translated:

stand shoulder to shoulder with = join
play into the hands of = help
axe to grind =
Achilles' heel = weakness / weak point
swan song =
render inoperative = break
militate against = attack
prove unacceptable = is unacceptable
make contact with = contact
give rise to = cause
give grounds for =
have the effect of = is
play a leading part (role) in =
make itself felt =
take effect = happen
exhibit a tendancy to = tends to
serve the purpose of = is / acts as
with respect to =
having regard to =
the fact that = that
in view of = [nothing]
in the interests of =
phenomenon = [nothing]
element
individual (as noun) = person / one
objective = purpose
categorical =
effective = good / useful
virtually = almost / nearly
basic = main / simple
primary = main / first
promote =
constitute =
exhibit = show
exploit =
utilize = use
eliminate = remove
liquidate =
a not unjustifiable assumption =
leaves much to be desired = is poor / bad
would serve no good purpose = is useless
a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind = we should consider
lay the foundations for = start
achieve a radical transformation = change
explore every avenue = look for
leave no stone unturned = look for

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