Never too Late to Read Classics discussion

Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), who used the pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist and critic. His work is marked by lucid prose, awareness of social injustice, opposition to totalitarianism, and outspoken support of democratic socialism.

"Politics and the English Language" (1946) is an essay by George Orwell that criticised the "ugly and inaccurate" written English of his time and examines the connection between political orthodoxies and the debasement of language.

Politics and the English Language and other Essays
The essay focuses on political language, which, according to Orwell, "is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind". Orwell believed that the language used was necessarily vague or meaningless because it was intended to hide the truth rather than express it. This unclear prose was a "contagion" which had spread to those who did not intend to hide the truth, and it concealed a writer's thoughts from himself and others. Orwell encourages concreteness and clarity instead of vagueness, and individuality over political conformity. (110 pages)

online, free: http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/p...

Thank you, Kelly.

Thanks Kelly for the link to this and the other essays. "Thoughts on the common toad" - only Orwell could come up with that!

He has a very short one on how to brew the proper tea that I love.

Kelly wrote: "He has a very short one on how to brew the proper tea that I love."

Which one is that Kelly?

http://orwell.ru/library/articles/tea...

Ah yes he could make a proper cuppa :)

Jazzy wrote: "Ah yes he could make a proper cuppa :)"

Its a fun little read... especially for this American who has no knowlege of tea.

That sounds like fun Kelly! I will check it out at lunch time!

More wisdom from George, this time of a practical nature. This essay would surely please the Hindu gods. The bit about tea
tasting of grease and whitewash made me quite queasy though.

February 1st and this read is open through the end of the month!

Orwell has lost some of those skirmishes, but his main points stand. For instance, his point about meaningless words in political argument is especially true in this age in which many people use all content words to mean either “whatever I like” or “whatever I don’t like.”

I also appreciate his point about the passive voice. It is often observed that the passive voice is used when the inconvenient question “By whom were those things done?” is wished to be evaded.

I was taught spelling and grammar at school, but I do not remember the Orwell golden rules.