![]() ![]() Never use a long word where a short one will do. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. Near the end of the essay, Orwell lists a few rules to keep writing clear, accessible and meaningful: ![]() It’s dangerous because the relationship between our words and our politics goes both ways: “ becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.” We create language and language creates us. What it shows so brilliantly is how language itself is central to politics, that clarity is as hard as it is vital, and that blather is as lazy as it is dangerous. ” It remains the best guide to writing non-fiction, and it usually prompts a wave of self-loathing even more piercing than my habitual kind. People in Belgrade walk past a mural depicting British novelist George Orwell with the words "Freedom is the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.” (By Oliver Bunic/AFP via Getty Images)įrom time to time, I make sure to re-read George Orwell’s classic essay, “ Politics and the English Language. ![]()
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