George Orwell –
Politics and the English Language
Orwell
shows passion for description, original metaphors, and clear views in
today's English writing. There is also a level of frustration in
Orwell's voice. The issue I had with this article was how strong the
author's came across as well as how easily he blamed politics and
economics for the decline in language. The entire article, save the
last few paragraphs screams the shared opinions of an overheated
language prescriptivist with his examples of poor writing and endless
lists of words to avoid. Yet, toward the end of the article, he
covers himself by declaring any word and any structure is open game,
as long as it it clear. This point is agreeable. So why then, did
Orwell make a monster out of politics? To make an excuse for bad
writing.
I
agree with the author's description of politicians being “some kind
of dummy...which seem to have no eyes” which is a great example of
how to turn a dry metaphor into a fresh one (Orwell, 8). That is an
image many have witnessed while watching elections and debates. The
men and women pry at the hearts and the minds of the voters with
vague, wordy sentences that not even the clerk that wrote the speech
understands. This phenomenon is not new. Each career choice, whether
it be a governess or a governor, has specific language and jargon
involved. Politics have not ruined English, prescriptivists and too
many rules have. If a word or metaphor works, use it. Sorry Orwell,
but now you have become the word Nazi you write against.
If ever there was a piece of writing I have read that sounded like the rantings of an irritated child, it is in this piece by Orwell. And I'm sure that if he were a teenager writing this same article, it would probably be the same length as most of our blogs. A "word Nazi" if ever there was one.
ReplyDeleteJosh Boyak