Politics and the English Language: George Orwell 'sheds light' on my love of dying metaphors

I wasn’t sure what I was going to think of this week’s reading. Its format is not particularly aesthetically pleasing; thirteen pages of long paragraphs having something to do with politics. Then I started reading. Taking two writing classes this quarter I am learning about the inflation of language and that the best way to avoid it is to be aware of it. Though I don’t follow politics regularly, I am familiar with Orwell’s description of ‘vague’ and ‘pretentious’ language used by those in positions of power. How they try to cover up mistakes and blur reality by calling innocent deaths “elimination of unreliable elements.” If politicians are doing this on purpose, and respected writers like George Orwell are making the public aware of it, why has nothing changed since this article was written in 1946?

I was particularly intrigued by Orwell’s comment that politicians often come off like “some kind of dummy,” because they don’t write their own speeches and therefore don’t connect with them. They haven’t come up with these words and ideas themselves. At best they probably only have a vague idea of what they are saying, which may explain their inability to provide clear answers to follow up questions or pronounce words (like Bush’s ‘nucular’ instead of ‘nuclear’) correctly. While reading the article, I was reminded how important it is that our generation, and the ones to follow, learn to write and speak effectively. If we continue to follow the patterns Orwell describes, like “dying metaphors, verbal false limbs, pretentious diction, and meaningless words,” English could go the same direction as our current economy. (I was going to say ‘down the toilet,’ but that would be a hypocritical because it's a dying metaphor.)

Orwell admitting that he is guilty of the mistakes he is writing about made me respect his authority even more. He is not trying to put himself above anyone. He is honest in saying that these mistakes are so common even he has made them. Just in writing this post I have caught myself wanting to use commonplace metaphors without trying to think of more vivid, unique images. There are probably phrases just sentences above that are in need of fixing, but I’ll leave them for example’s sake. For future writing I will add Orwell’s rules to my revision list; not using cliché and overused figure of speech, long words or phrases just to fill space, pretentious foreign and jargon words, or passive voice. While my academic, 10 page requirement, research essays may sometimes require a few of these tricks, I hope to keep my fiction and creative nonfiction free from these issues and ‘clear as a bell’ (just kidding!).

-Katie Huffman