“ 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. ”
George Orwell, Politics and the English Language (1946). copy citation
Author | George Orwell |
---|---|
Source | Politics and the English Language |
Topic | truth language lies politics |
Date | 1946 |
Language | English |
Reference | in "Horizon" |
Note | |
Weblink | http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/ |
Context
“If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. 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. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase — some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump of verbal refuse — into the dustbin where it belongs.”
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