Flaws Of The English Language Analysis

Improved Essays
This is an essay especially created to illustrate the, quite few, but evident, the flaws of the English language. Though easy to learn, versatile and beautiful, the political evolution and the political power shift, have created a certain stereotype, and people tend to write, some sort of, robotic sentences, using a lot of words to express a short, simple message. Humanity didn’t do this on its own, politics and snobbery played crucial roles in this development. Instead of using simplicity, we now try to overcomplicate things, making some texts harder to read, a bit boring and simply robust. Are the reasons purely of economical nature? It is a strong possibility, judging the frequent political changes in the United Kingdom, the need to create …show more content…
Orwell was drawn heavily to this movement, and often included its ideas in his writing. In "Politics and the English Language," for example, Orwell clearly links decayed language with degenerate politics: "Modern English is full of bad habits. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration" (128). And in his summary, Orwell claims "If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy" (139).

The more serious charge is Orwell's shaky, perhaps naive theoretical underpinnings. Fundamentally, Orwell seems to view language as an object, something separate from ourselves.This view manifests itself throughout "Politics," in Orwell's unsound notions that language can be corrupted or engineered, and that a language controls thought and vice
…show more content…
Mitt Romney in one of his transcripts states, "we will make trade work for America by forging new trade agreements. And when nations cheat in trade, there will be unmistakable consequences." when he says "unmistakable consequences", he doesn't really state what kinds of consequences. This might be because he is referring to war or something violent, which he doesn't want to reveal to his audience because they might see it as an act of cruelty or brutality. So in order to keep their trust he hides some facts by using fuzzy

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Both Lang and Orwell realize that all power to overrun the totalitarian regimes of their times and their fictional futuristic landscapes lies in the hands of the masses. However, while Lang has hope and represents that there is still hope in the masses Orwell believes that the dehumanization of the individual is too much that the masses have become unthinking and all hope is lost. “The Party taught” the Paroles that they “grew up in the gutters” and gave them little knowledge on political matters that “even when they became discontented, as they sometimes did, their discontent led nowhere, because being without general ideas, they could only focus it on petty specific grievances. The larger evils invariably escaped their notice.” On the other hand, Lang represents how the masses can work together to bring together a…

    • 1340 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deception in Brave New World and 1984(Orwell) Name Institution Introduction From the dictionary definition, deception refers to a scheme or a trick a person uses to get what he/she wants. Therefore, the word deception comes from an act of deceiving somebody on a particular issue. The developments in this paper entails a deep analysis of the novels Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World written by George Orwell and Aldous Huxley respectively.…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The English language is continually and slowly being eradicated by the way society tends to manipulate the way they word their statements. People continue to switch their words around to make sure that it seems favorable while the meaning behind it is deceiving. George Orwell is an important writer who believes that our writing is problematic because of our thoughts, which is caused by the slovenliness of the language itself. This is both true and false because sometimes you have to get to the point of your work without including fluff, while other times, larger words are necessary and make the person seem a lot more sophisticated.…

    • 865 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Body Paragraph 2: • Orwell indicates that may people interpret words differently from what the writer intended. • “Words… are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own private definition, but allows his hearer to think he means something quite different” (Orwell 5). Body Paragraph 3: • Orwell understands what would not be said in regards to political writing. • “Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending Russian totalitarianism.…

    • 477 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In addition, the dehumanisation of society is a consequence consistent with totalitarian government and its extensive control and is explicitly portrayed throughout both 1984 and Metropolis. Exploring the repercussions of authoritarian government, Orwell’s novel was largely motivated by the politics and rhetoric present at the conclusion of the Second World War and the onset of the overwrought Cold War. Orwell’s construction of a condensed form of the English language, Newspeak, facilitates the Party’s psychological manipulation and encompasses the control of society in a pseudo reality. This destruction of language ensures an unparalleled level of conformity, evident when Winston writes in his diary, “Orthodoxy means not thinking, not needing…

    • 1022 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Orwell And Anzaldúa

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In their essays, both, George Orwell and Gloria Anzaldúa, explore language and how it is changing and defining individuals, respectively. Orwell, in “Politics and the English Language,” and Anzaldúa, in “How to Tame a Wild Tongue,” assess language and its implications in different ways. Obviously, however, the biggest similarity between both these expositions…

    • 1137 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The language is a most powerful weapon that we can use for to create a great impact on others; moreover, it has influenced over time. In "Politics and the English Language", George Orwell develops pretentious diction can misleading people from the language and language is a reflection of our culture and society. On the other hand, in "Letter from Birmingham Jail", Martin Luther King, Jr. shows his belief about the segregation and tried to get the support from the community. In both texts, George Orwell and Martin Luther King, Jr. both show that political leaders use the language to encourage the individuals in society by making an encouragement to bring them together and convince people to trust them.…

    • 925 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Orwell wrote this book to explain to people that humans are not supposed to be controlled by one another but instead by themselves. If people are controlled they are not truly humans because they are dehumanized if they don’t get their simple needs as…

    • 766 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Politics and the English Language by George Orwell is a detailed rhetorical analysis over the English language, regarding its faults and problems. Orwell demonstrates his points by giving examples of passages that suffer from the problems of the English language and giving solutions to those problems. Overall, he points out that the modern English prose is vague, confusing, and difficult to read. Regarding the newfound vagueness of the English language, Orwell states, “This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing.” This quote is showing how political writings are unclear and contradicting.…

    • 446 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prompt Commentary “He was an intelligent man and an able servant of his firm, but he was one of those Englishmen—common, unfortunately—who should never be allowed to set foot in the East” (Orwell 855). (This was an entry from Burmese Days) Much of the dialogue involved blistering criticism on Burmese people. Among those countless insults, the narrator’s input nabbed my attention. Orwell had expressed his political beliefs covertly through dialogue.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    1984 Figurative Language

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages

    In Nineteen Eighty-Four the ethical principle of human probity that can easily be subverted, is shown through Orwell's use of vocabulary choice. Orwell’s style of words that incorporate this ideology includes a wide range of figurative language, symbolism, and motifs. The style of language is embodied to show the human morals can be compromised due to the effectiveness of vocabulary choices. As Nineteen Eighty-Four…

    • 742 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    David Bartholomae sought to explain the difficulties students had in adjusting to the writing style expected of them in your standard university. This urge led him to write an essay which he named “Inventing the University” In this radical essay he explains in great detail why students seem to have such difficulty in writing university discourse and some practices we could put into the current public school systems that would help alleviate some of the difficulty most college freshmen face. In this essay I will be covering some of the major points he hits upon throughout his essay. Bartholomae starts by explaining the experience of a freshmen first entering college.…

    • 1290 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Orwell’s writings he often writes about an attack on the evils of tyranny. Very often his writings have an entity that rules over all. These writings show that a system of tyranny creates a society that does not progress, rather, it regresses. For example, his essay “Shooting An Elephant” portrays the idea about imperialism, another prime example of a system of tyranny. Due to imperialism, Europeans have been driven to thoughts of anger and hatred towards the anti-Europeans, which consist of Burmans and Buddhists.…

    • 604 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Part 1: Exploring “Shooting An Elephant” by George Orwell 1. What words could you use to describe the character that Orwell makes of himself in this piece? He illustrates himself as vulnerable, powerless, weak and, someone who seeks for acceptance. He is also sympathetic yet confused.…

    • 721 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I like how you stated that “a language is not just random words that sound different than English,” I agree with you that a lot of people do not have an interest. If you go to other parts of the world, not only they speak their native language but other languages as well. For example, European counties speaks multiple languages including English. Thank you for sharing a little about your ethnic background. It is very interesting and I enjoy reading it.…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays