Politics and the English Language
George Orwell on politics and the english language:
What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way around. In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is surrender to them. When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing yo... See more
Orwell laid out his thoughts on how politically corrupting shoddy language could be in his famous 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language”: Modern English . . . is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, a
... See moreFrank Luntz • Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear
i. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. ii. Never use a long word where a short one will do. iii. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out. iv. Never use the passive where you can use the active. v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can thin
... See moreFrank Luntz • Words That Work: It's Not What You Say, It's What People Hear
