Reading Response: Politics and the English Language

     “Politics and the English Language” written by George Orwell posed an enlightening and interesting read for me this week.  This text, it would seem, has been written to educate the apparent ignorant masses that Orwell found himself surrounded by in his day and age on the so-called “correct use” of English and touches on many subjects in written and spoken English language.

     While much of the information contained in this piece does somewhat educate the reader on the proper use of certain functions in the English language and how to apply them correctly, it is almost all completely one sided.  Sadly, Orwell comes across as arrogant and above the rest of society as he makes his argument that English is “in a bad way” and used incorrectly.
 
     His description of things like “dying metaphors, pretentious diction, and meaningless words” leads the reader down a self righteous path of “what it is” and “how it should be”.  His use of passages taken form other authors written text does incorporate a feeling that some writing is not what it should be, however instead of guiding the reader and explaining the indifference Orwell seems to seek placing blame and demonstrating that minds of his caliber don’t exist or they wouldn’t write like this.

     While this piece is written to supposedly address the use of English in Politics, it really comes across as him trying to dictate how language should be used by everyone, in every situation, and in every writing style.  Could you imagine trying to creatively write something without these so called  “Meaningless Words” used to describe a scene, setting, or object?  Or to not be able to use “Pretentious Diction” to elaborate to your reader?
 
     His argument of the “Not un-” formation of writing I felt was sound but any then it sounds so ridiculous to think that anyone would write like that anyway. The example used by Orwell “A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field” is hilarious (and scary), however hardly used in the common language of today.  Perhaps this came about because Orwell chose to write about it?
  
     After reading this, I did find myself questioning my use of language and metaphor in my everyday life.  However, I am not a politician,  I don’t write political documents, debates or laws so I don’t feel that I should allow the words of George Orwell to affect my skill advancement in my “generally” creative writing style…

Sorry Orwell!