George Orwell - Politics and the English Language torrent

An essay by George Orwell criticising "ugly and inaccurate" contemporary written English.
Orwell said that political prose was formed "to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." Orwell believed that, because this writing was intended to hide the truth rather than express it, the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless. This unclear prose was a "contagion" which had spread even to those who had no intent to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer's thoughts from himself and others. Orwell advocates instead Plain English.

Published 1946

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9 Pages