The Write and Wrong of Writing

George Orwell’s article Politics and the English Language states there is a general decline in English language usage in the way we express our ideas and thoughts in written form. Orwell feels the main culprits are our politicians who sabotage the English language for their own gain. This is done to cloud the truth and fool the masses in the righteousness of their actions by being vague and ambiguous. He states that this is done by over usage or incorrect use of metaphors, phrases, foreign and scientific words, and long or difficult words.

I do support his theories on political misleading writings. After all, politicians are trained never to answer a difficult question directly, but beat about the bush until you forget what the original question was. This holds true of all our political world leaders today who need to sell their ideas like a used car salesman. A striking example would be the charismatic musings of Obama, who captivated the world with his mesmerizing speeches and gave us all hope without actually giving the logistics of his plans. His words spoke volumes and a willing nation lapped it up. Perhaps religious books are political speeches in disguise. While his article is thought provoking, I do not fully agree with his opinions on general expression by prose, primarily because I am guilty of the crimes he speaks of. Yes, when you need to make a point in business like terms then language should be simple, concise and to the point. I hate the way the legal profession dupes the public into believing they are stupid by using senseless jargon that has no place in modern day society. However, I enjoy in being colorful and using phrases ETC in my writings and this is not done to confuse but to express in an educated way my thoughts, and I want the poetic license to continue to do so without derision. So I make no apologies for my ramblings as I want to celebrate the richness of the English language.

After all, Shakespeare was a literary master in inventing words and phrases that we commonly adopt today, and he is lauded for this. Today, we have new words and phrases such as “Google” that respected dictionaries are adding to their new word list, some of which I must admit appall me as this does represent the real destruction of the English language I so revere. I am also outraged by modern day slangs and Americanisms that have filtered into the modern day mainstream English language and are accepted as the norm. The modern day media who should covet the written word are often so guilty of glamorizing or coining incorrect or new words and making them the norm. An example of this is when they highlight George Bush’s errors in word usage as Bushism and in doing so condones his faults. However, language will inevitably change with time and new words will be used and many old words forgotten as our society changes. After all we no longer speak or write in the tone of “ how art thou”. Language evolves with time and will continue to do so. While George Orwell gives some good advice on how to improve our writings I feel this advice is limited to scholars, students, politicians ETC.  Language is in fact decreasing as we text or twitter our messages within a confined space but obviously this was before George Orwells’ time. If George Orwell witnessed modern day writings of the public at large today, he would beg for more metaphors as he turns in his grave.