The Politics and English Language

The Politics and English Language

  • Submitted By: meladizzle
  • Date Submitted: 12/15/2008 7:34 PM
  • Category: English
  • Words: 1647
  • Page: 7
  • Views: 2

Research Paper
In George Orwell’s “politics and English Language”, three complaints against faulty use of language intrigued me the most. These three are Dying metaphors, operators or verbal false limbs and pretentious Diction. In these three pieces, Orwell explains how language is often manipulated, poorly use, and how language is often mixed up and misunderstood. Orwell uses various examples to prove his point of views towards these kinds of acts, and how one should just keep writing as easy as possible. Orwell also discusses how many times these kind of “re-wording” can kill the argument the author is trying to prove to the reader and it also damages the message the author was trying to get across to the reader as well. George Orwell criticizes contemporary writers for preferring the abstract to the concrete, claiming this reduces precision of thought. For him “ugly and inaccurate” contemporary written English and asserts are both a cause and effect of foolish thinking and dishonest politics. He calls “vagueness and sheer incompetence” the “most marked characteristic” of contemporary English prose and especially of the political writing of his day. Orwell gives five examples of bad contemporary writing and criticizes them for “staleness of imagery” and “lack of precision.” Orwell then describes the “tricks” his contemporaries used to avoid the work and thought of assembling clear writing styles: overused or “dying” metaphors, “operators or false verbal limbs” that were used in preference to simple verbs, pretentious diction and “meaningless words.”
The right metaphor can convey ones ideas vividly and memorably. A metaphor is a non-literal use of language. A metaphor says that one thing is another, quite different sort of thing. To be a metaphor, it must literally not be true. Metaphors are often used to make the abstract seem real. In the piece “Dying Metaphors” Orwell explains how there are two kinds of metaphors. An invented metaphor that assists...

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