Orwell: Politics and the English Language

A newly invented metaphor assists thought by...

Evoking a visual image

A metaphor which technically has been "dead" is....

an ordinary word without vividness

Why are these "dead metaphors" used?

They save ppl the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves

"Iron resolution" is an example of...

A dead metapjor

Incompatible metaphors are often mixed, a sign that...

The author is not interested in what he is saying

Examples of metaphors that have been twisted out of their original meaning

Toe the line=tow the line

Hammer and the anvil gives the implication that the anvil gets the worst of it, but actually the anvil always breaks the hammer

Anvil

a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck

Examples of dying metapjors

Ring the charges on, fishing in troubled waters, Achilles heel, hotbed, on the order of the day

Operators or False Verbal Limbs

Extra syllables, making an appearance of symmetry. Save the trouble of picking out appropriate verbs or nouns. Instead of being a single word, the verb becomes a phrase.

Operators or False Verbal Limbs Problems

Passive voice is preferred to active voice and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds. Range is cut down by -ize and de- formations. Given an appearance of profundity by means of the not un- formation.

Profundity

Deep insight

Gerunds

A form that is derived from a verb but that functions as a noun, in English ending in -ing

Pretentious diction is written to ---.

Dress up a simple statement and give an air of scientific impartiality to biased judgements

Sordid

Dirty actions or motives, sleazy

What is the result of pretentious diction?

Slovenliness and vagueness

Slovenliness

untidy or unclean in appearance or habits.

The passages he quotes have their own faults, but share two common faults. What are the two common faults?

1. Staleness of imagery

2. Lack of precision

Writer either has meaning and can't express it, inadvertently means something else, or is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not

How can bad habits in writing be avoided?

Bad habits spread through imitation and can be avoided if if one is willing to take the necessary trouble

Meaningless words are mostly shown in long passages in...

Art criticism and literary criticism

How is Fascism incorrectly used?

Has no meaning except it signifies "something not desirable"

What's the deal with the word "democracy?"

There's no agreed definition and the attempt to make one is resisted from all sides

What does it mean when words are used in a consciously dishonest way?

The person who uses them has his own, private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different

Any struggle against the abuse of language is a ___.

Sentimental archaism

Archaism

Old or old fashioned

Why did he pick out the specific passages?

They show some of the mental vices we suffer from

What is bad about metaphors sometimes?

They are used without knowing their meaning, incompatible metaphors are frequently mixed, and they have been changed of their original meaning

Adjectives like epoch-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, inevitable, inexorable, veritable do what?

Dignify the sordid process of international politics

Word like realm, throne, chariot, mailed fist, sword, banner, and shield do what?

Aim at glorifying war. Takes on an archaic color

Foreign words and expressions such as cul de sac, ancien regime, status quo, and weltanshauung are used to?

Give an air of culture and elegance

Except for ___, there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in the English language.

Abbreviates (I.e., e.g., and etc)

Bad writers, specifically scientific, political, and sociological writers believe that ---, which is wrong.

Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones and that unnecessary words and others are better than Saxon ones

What's an example of how writers think Greek/Latin names are better than Saxon ones?

English flower names are getting ousted by Greek ones -- snapdragon is now antirrhinum and forget-me-not is mytosis

Why is the flower getting a name change to be more Greek?

Not practical; probably due to turning away from homely words and thinking that Greek is more scientific

Marxist jargon writing consists of ___.

Words translated from Russian, German, or French.

The normal way of coining a new word is to ---

Use Latin or Greek riots with the appropriate affix and size formation.

Some Marxist words

Hyena, hangman, cannibal, lackey, flunkey, mad dog

How are words such as romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, and vitality meaningless?

They don't point to any discoverable object and hardly ever expected to do so by the reader

What's wrong with the words democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, and justice?

They have several different meetings which can't be reconciled with each other

It is almost universally felt that only call contra democratic we are...but...

Praising it. But the defenders of every regime think it is a democracy and fear they would have to stop using that word if it were tied down to one meaning

Swindle

Fraud or trick

Perversion

Distortion

Tabulate

Arrange in tabular form; chart

The tendency of modern prose is away from ...

Concreteness

Scrupulous

Diligent, careful

A careful writer asks himself 6 questions:

1. What am I trying to say?

2. What words will express it?

3. What image/idiom will make it clearer?

4. Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

5. Could I put it more shortly?

6. Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

Political writing =

Bad writing

When political writing isn't bad, it means the writer is ...

A revel that expresses his private opinions and not a "party line"

What is common between all political dialects?

One almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, homemade turn of speech

Orthodoxy in political speech demands a ---, --- style.

Lifeless, imitative

If a politician delivers a speech he has made many times, what happens to him?

He becomes unconscious of what he is saying like uttering the responses in church

The reduced stare of consciousness is favorable to ---

Political conformity

Indefensible

Not justifiable by argument

To justify the unjustifiable, political language has to consist of ...

Euphemism, question-begging, and vagueness

Euphemism

Polite substitute

Defenseless villages are bombarded from the air, then happenings driven out to the countryside and the hats are set on fire. What is it called?

Pacification

Millions of peasants are robbed of their farms and sent down roads with no more than they can carry. What is this called?

Transfer of population or rectification of frontiers

Ppl are imprisoned without trials or sent to die at of scurvy in lumber camps. What is this called?

Elimination of unreliable elements

Why do politicians use different phrases from what they mean?

Such phraseology is needed to make things without calling mental pictures of them. They blur the outline and cover up the details

The enemy of clear language is...

Uncertainty

When there is a gap btw One's real and One's declared aims, one uses __.

Long words and exhausted idioms

are there issues that aren't political?

No

When does language suffer?

When the general atmosphere is bad

Why have the German, Russian, and Italian languages all suffered?

As a result of dictatorshop

How can one guard against ready made phrases?

Be on guard against them

Anesthetize

Deprive of feeling or awareness

He argues that the decadence of our language is probably curable. What is the argument to this?

That language merely reflects existing social conditions and that we can't influence its development by any direct tinkering with words and constructions

Silly phrases, such as explore every avenue and leave no stone unturned, have disappeared by...

Owing the conscious action of a minority (not evolution). Killed by the jeers of a few journalists

What are the 6 rules?

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print

2. Never use a long word when a short one will do

3. Always cut out a word if you can

4. Use active not passive

5. Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word, or jargon word if you can use an English equivalent

6. Break these rules sooner than say anything barbarous

Flyblown

Contaminated

Date it was written

1946

Euphonious

Pleasant sounding

Concomitant

Naturally associated or accompanying

Stenographer

Typer

Decline of our language must have ___ and ___ causes.

Political and economic

How does the effect become the cause in modern English?

It becomes inaccurate and ugly because our thoughts are foolish, but the uncleanliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts

Egregious

Shocking

Havkneyed

Overdone

The mixture of -- and -- is the most marked characteristic of English prose, and any type of political writing

Vagueness and sheer incompetence

Commensurate

Equal

The whole tendency of modern prose is away from --

Concreteness

Why do ppl use ready made sentences?

You don't have to hunt for the words or bother with the rhythms of the sentences since they're already arranged to be pleasant sounding

Humbug

Nonsense meant to mislead or impress

Stuart Chase

Has come near to claiming that all abstract words are meaningless and use this as a pretext for advocating a kind of political quietism

The negatives example is by ___ in ___.

Professor Harold laski in Freedom of Expression

The ducks and drakes example in by --- in --

Professor Lancelot Hogben in interglossia

Meaningless, free personality example is an -- in - .

Essay on psychology in Politics (NY)

The stale phrases/gentlemen clubs is a ---

Communist pamphlet

BBC Tumidity is a --- in the -- .

Letter, Tribune

Good things about the Ecclesiastes example

-49 words and 60 syllables

-exs from everyday life

-6 vivid images and 1 phrase

Bad things about the parody of the Ecclesiastes example

-Vague

-39 words and 90 syllables

-18 Latin and 1 Greek root

-no specific phrases

What's the difference between concrete and abstract objects?

When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly and try to find the exact words to describe it, but when you think of an abstract object, you are inclined to use words form the start and the dialect will come rushing in

Is it better to think of words quickly or put off using words?

Put off

How does it end?

One can change One's own habits and send off useless phrases