Response to "Politics and the English Language"

Whilst reading through Orwell’s piece, I soon found that I was contributing slightly to this stretching and skewing of the English language. Luckily it would seem I’m not alone, as college professors are making as many or more errors as me, and while that softens the blow to me, it also shows how badly we’ve managed to morph simple words into drawn out phrases.

Politics are prime pickings for finding such phrases. It seems it’s now a necessity to use as many large and complex words as possible to describe ones position on something. No longer does one simply state their opinion on something. You teeter on the edge of decisiveness, but do not under any circumstance actually take a step into it. If one does, they make sure to cloak it under so many words -often meaning things other than what they really mean- that it’s impossible to discern if they are indeed for or against something.

Taking this into consideration when writing is vital to a successful paper. If people are forced to re-read things simply so they understand a simple concept, it becomes boring and puts the reader off. One also wants to make sure their writing expresses ideas clearly. The writer must also be wary to keep things brief and to the point so the reader is not lost in over-abundant details. The six rules Orwell provides are great things to look for when looking over a paper, as I’m sure people other than me and some professors tend to drag things out longer than they should be.