Posted
10/28/2002 03:26:00 PM
by Douglas
Didn't realize I left the state with that damn picture of Chelsea staring back at me. I really should do something about that, it's really creepy. Anyway, here is an excellent article by Orwell about the decline of the
English language. This is the best thing I've read in a long time. Too bad Orwell gets distilled down to Mr. Totalitarian by no talent hacks. His non-fiction stuff is as good as it gets. Excerpts:
prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse.
Bad writers, and especially scientific, political, and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like expedite, ameliorate . ..
In our time it is broadly true that political writing is bad writing. Where it is not true, it will generally be found that the writer is some kind of rebel, expressing his private opinions and not a "party line."
And my personal favourite:
In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. . .