i really agree with what orwell says in "politics and the english language." i believe orwell is explaining how the english language is as corrupted as the government. "Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." this statement is totally true. many leaders have distorted their words to make it seem as if what they are doing is fine. most of the time, they use big words to make it seem as if they did answer the question when really they just confused us even more. what's more amazing is the fact that we hang on to every word they say to try to convince ourselves that it is true. orwell's essay is a guideline for me because i do a lot of the things he explains is wrong. whenever i write an essay about a topic, i can explain it to myself, but when i write it down or even say it aloud, it comes out all wrong. i also like to use big words, but that's just for my satisfaction of making me feel smarter. but i really hate when people try to use a bunch of random words and phrases that instead of answering the question really just avoids it. for example, passages 1 and 3 in the beginning of the essay. they made no sense, whatsoever. whether or not i knew what most of the words meant, i still didn't make any sense. i like things straightfoward and to the point because i don't want to read or hear something that doesn't answer the question but just makes the topic more controversal or whatever! do you understand the importance of wording? i can't even make this blog make sense but hopefully you understand where i'm coming at. sometimes simple wording is better, but i think it really depends on your audience. if you're going to talk to a bunch of smart harvard people then yeah throw in some big words to impress them. if you're going to talk to students then you can use one or two but you have to get straight to the point because students can have short attention spans. words can really effect the things you say or try to say. you can make a really bad thing seem like the utmost importance or you can make something good seem totally useless. words is really important, especially today. many people hate reading those complex books because you have to dig deeper and try to understand what the writer is really saying. other people, like me, love that. i always try to read in between the lines whether in songs or books. it still amazes me how words can make you think it means one thing but means something totally different. i like using new words because i need to expand my vocabulary so i can try to explain things easier.
hmm.. i think i'm just rambling now ^^
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4 comments:
gelissa, this text is much too difficult to read. please use the standard typeface, or use something darker and larger. thanks
other than the light text. I must say that orwell is quite right as well. Simplicity is the best way to go. If you use bigger and bigger words and more complex structure you will get confused and your audience will get confused as well. I myself am guilty of what Orwell is speaking against and this Essay proved to me a great way to help me change that. I completely agree with you, simplicity is the best way to go in writing.
I agree with what you say Gelissa. Simple words get the point across easier and don't confuse the audience. I think that people who use big words and complicated phrases are either trying to impress everyone with their oversized vocabulary or are trying to avoid the question that has been posed. Politics are especially guilty of this. They say all these things and they tend to use words that the average person will have to go get a dictionary to figure out what they mean. How is the audience supposed to make a judgement if they don't know what the speaker is talking about. I think politicians count on the public not knowing what they're saying so they get away with whatever they want to do.
I also think Orwell was trying to bring in the way we think with his essay. The lack of emotion and imagery in people's writing won't really allow readers or listeners to get a mental image or thought of what the writer is trying to bring up. The thoughts and images are suppressed by the phrases and foreign words. People's mistakes are being repeated because no one bothers to try and fix them. But I agree with Kim about the politicians using these phrases and words. I think they probably use them to leave us out of the loop of what's really going on in the world and we will never really know unless we travel and see for ourselves.
- Ariana Allison
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