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politics and the english language
8.019 documents for politics and the english language
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In Orwell's own time, in the Society for Pure English's Tract 11 (1922), Arthur Clutton-Brock contributed a short essay called Dead Metaphors, in which, after ravaging a portion of an article about Lloyd George (thus in a way adumbrating Orwell's own connection of politics and lousy language), he observed that in the best sentences ... the words seem new-born; like notes in music, they seem to be, not mere labels, but facts . . . [...] that essay's "preoccupation with euphemism and jargon," as the linguist W.E Bolton calls it, is evident in Burmese Days, when Flory's servant says "I have done so" but truly means "I will do so"; and when Orwell writes that "Peace Bloc," "Peace Front," and "Democratic Front" are soothing phrases that in truth denote a militarized union; and in Animal Far...
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In his 1946 essay "Politics and the English Language," George Orwell examines the complementary relationship between language and thought: Our language, he says, "becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. After listening to George W. Bush's eight-year unilateral assault on clear and cogent English, I welcome the articulate speech of President Barack Obama. It's as if an interminable siege has at last been lifted, and now our liberator stands at the podium responsive to the people, directly, clearly, thoughtfully answering the complex questions of our time.
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Journalism lost one of its old workhorse word mavens this past Sunday, when curmudgeonly conservative James J. Kilpatrick - once the nation's most widely syndicated political columnist, and author of a dozen books on politics, the U.S. Supreme Court, and the English language - died at age 89. Known to his friends as "Kilpo," Kilpatrick rose from cub reporter to one of the country's most-recognized voices on the right. Americans over the age of 50 will remember him for his take- no-prisoners verbal food fights with liberal commentator Shana Alexander on the "Point-Counterpoint" segment of CBS's "60 Minutes" program in the 1970s.
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WASHINGTON - James J. Kilpatrick's in-your-face, conservative bickering with liberal commentator Shana Alexander three decades ago was famously parodied - and then copied for years to come on broadcast and cable channels. Even more lasting: his contributions as the nation's most widely syndicated political columnist and a dozen books on everything from politics and the U.S. Supreme Court to the use and abuse of the English language.
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The English writer George Orwell (1903-1950) is best known for his political satires "1984" and "Animal Farm." In both books, Mr. Orwell condemned the spread of totalitarianism and its demand of orthodoxy in thought and conformity in action. The rise of the Soviet bloc was his target. But he also indicted Western democracies for their use of some of the same tactics the Soviets used in manipulating public thought. In particular, he railed against political leaders using - and abusing - language to endorse a certain view, or worse, to delude. One of Mr. Orwell's most powerful pieces of writing is a short essay he composed in 1946, "Politics and the English Language." Any time a new government regulation is labeled as socialism, an elected official is compared to a Nazi, or someone is con...
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Concerning Saturday's editorial cartoon (May 13), the people depicted therein bowing to the god PC have been conditioned through repetition, not reason, to define good out of existence. All morality is relative, says the god: the United States is the moral equal of Castro's Cuba and of Red China today. Who are we to make value judgments?The PC god demands inoffensive speech while its acolytes offend the majority. Does a group wish a cross to be removed because it offends? Remove it - we are all equal. Does someone defend America? To the wall! America is evil because George Washington had slaves and grew hemp. Who are we to judge? - A contradiction? Not if the god says it isn't.Let us line up a few more ideas as a PC-worshiper might view them. These have the sanction of his group, and th...
... - the subject was George Orwell's ``Politics and the English Language'' - that the PC fad would...
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Playing politics with language Re "One word for the way politicians communicate: bad," July 12: Martin Gottlieb is right, of course, on politics and the English language, but George Orwell was right in the late 1940s. Symbols and slogans were politically powerful for much of human history.
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... easy to do as they have four official languages, French, Italian, German, and Romansch, but most bbusiness people in the cities speak English also (Morrison, 1994). About 65 percent of the cou... Germany so all types of business and politics will be affected. The languages spoken are German ...
