The Decline of the English Language

In George Orwell's essay, Politics and the English Language, he argues that the English language is becoming more vague in meaning and that people would rather string together pre-made phrases to convey their message rather than choosing words that truly express what they are trying to say. Even though this method is easier and faster, it causes a lack of precision in meaning. This corruption of the English language can be fixed if we let the meaning chose the word as opposed to using standard phrases and seeing what meaning comes out.

In the very beginning five examples are given to demonstrate the English language commonly used today. They all lack precision, in that the authors have trouble expressing what they are trying to say, and the imagery is stale and unimaginative.

One of the common mistakes is that people use dying metaphors in their writing. These save people the trouble of making up their own phrases, but these metaphors have lost all meaning and do not add anything to the writing. Operators have also become a safety blanket in writing. They are used to fill out sentences with extra syllables when simple words could have been used instead. Pretentious diction gives an air of scientific impartiality and dresses up simple statements. It is also used in the media to dignify politics and glorify war by making them seem important. Another common mistake is to use meaningless words in criticisms that do not talk about any discoverable object. This also happens in politics, for example 'fascism' now just signifies something undesirable because it's true meaning has disappeared.

To avoid vague writing, never use a figure of speech that is commonly seen in print and use short, simple words as opposed to long ones. When possible cut out unnecessary words and phrases and never use the passive tense when the active can be used. Do not use foreign phrases, scientific words, or jargon when there is an acceptable English equivalent. That being said, it is better to break these rules than to say something unsophisticated.

Modern English is moving away from concrete meaning and makes it easy for writers not to have to think when they write. Our language makes it easy for us to make these mistakes and to gloss over facts, making lies seem like the truth. This cannot all be changed at once, but it’s best that we correct our own writing habits as many of these bad habits were picked up by imitation.