How English Writers have become lazy Writers

By: Simon Grimard

George Orwell’s, Politics and the English Language is an interesting outlook on how the English language has evolved in written form. The English language is referred to as a living language versus Latin, which is considered a dead language. The difference between a dead language and a living language is the fact that a living language continually evolves; a great example in the English language is Google. Ten years ago if someone were to say “you should Google that” people would not of understood you, but it is now common practice. In comparison Latin has not evolve in this sense. Politics and the English Language looks at how the evolution of the English language has reached a point of absurdity in recent years. Looking at how writers have stopped using their own ideas and metaphors, writers have instead used the same ones over and over to the point where they have lost the original meaning.

A second argument was made that writers have continually used meaningless words in their writing to make it seem more complex and educated. When looking at Orwell’s argument of writers using meaningless words he outlined key reasons to why it is important to not use unnecessary words. His main point is that the use of extra words can skew the actual meaning of the piece causing the reader to form a different opinion than the author wanted to portray. Orwell showed how in some instances writers will intentionally use extra words to blur the true meaning of their writing. The example Orwell used was when political speakers are required to answer a question that may make them look bad; their response is scripted to answer the question in such a way, using meaningless words as Orwell describes, to skew the opinions on the topic into their favour.

Also Orwell looked at how pretentious diction has made its way into English writing and has been over used and that writers have put more effort into making their work sound better rather than provide more insight or education to the reader. Lastly Orwell has supplied us with six basic rules to consider when conducting our own writing[1]. Although these six rules seem simple and obvious, Orwell has discussed many authors have simply forgotten that it is not always necessary to use the most obscure language to get the point across.

Orwell’s main argument is that modern English writers have lost the ability to create their own unique writing styles without falling back into the old habits and using the same metaphors, similes or foreign phrases that have been over used. He argues that a writer has to be ever diligent when writing to prevent themselves from falling back into the same old routine and habits.

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[1] 1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.