George Orwell's Politics And The English Language

In the article, “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell, it is conspicuous that “ the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes”(Orwell 1), and the causes would reinforce the falling of a language indefinitely just like the relation between a failed man and drinking alcohol. Even though the Essay was written in 1946, it still remains timely for current students. According to Orwell, the modern English language becomes “ ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts” (1). The trend of writing with lack of veracity and surplus of meaningless words leaves a loophole for political language to slip through and the misuse of language can spread by imitation among the students who are learning the language which push them into a pattern with using ready-made phrases.

Primarily, Orwell cites five noticeable passages from different writings and among these representative examples, the common features of the passages are “staleness of imagery”(2) and “lack of precision”(2) . Additionally, George talks about the bad writing habits in detailed in order to show the trait of modern English texts, especially in political articles, is either using inappropriate words and metaphors “which are technically ‘dead’ ” (2) or employing largely of euphemism and words with no meaning. Furthermore, by explaining the way how political words like “democracy” is being used and how the professors comment on Russian totalitarianism, it indicates how the language is being abused to trick others and how “thought corrupts