Pretentious Diction In English

Reading texts from over a hundred years ago, we often chuckle at how odd the English language was - reading Shakespeare is clearly different from reading the works of J.K. Rowling. To us, the older varieties of English have bizarre grammar, spelling, and pronunciation, which make us reluctant to accepting it. The reason why these older versions of English perplex us is because language is always changing. Modern-day English is composed of many different concepts, but for me, there are five important ones that demand attention: the use of pretentious diction, indirect language strategies, assertive writing, false limbs, and the staleness of dying metaphors. These concepts illustrate both ineffective ways of delivering communication and subtle strategies to convey meaning indirectly or artistically. Our society regularly uses pretentious diction to communicate. Pretentious diction is when someone uses complicated language where simple language would do. George Orwell states in his essay “Politics and the English Language” that writers should avoid pretentious diction, and writers should always replace pretentious words with simple ones. Pretentious diction can be seen in everyday communications and is mostly used to obscure and/or impress people. Pretentious diction is seen in U.S. Representative Mike Quigley’s response to the Sunlight Foundation in The Chicago Tribune: “That is why as the elected arbiter of erudition, from the 5th congressional district, I decry the foundation’s obvious schadenfreude in our fictional dystopia” (1). Quigley’s counter-attack to the Sunlight …show more content…
Indirect speech is when someone implies at a certain thing without explicitly saying it. Indirect speech mainly exists because we want to be polite about what we say. Direct language may be too blunt, giving the speaker a negative perception. In his excerpt, “Words Don’t Mean What They Mean,” Steven Pinker explains indirect