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I consider David Foster Wallace's "Authority and the English Language" to be a spiritual successor to this piece (http://wilson.med.harvard.edu/nb204/AuthorityA
by ajkjk 10y ago
I consider David Foster Wallace's "Authority and the English Language" to be a spiritual successor to this piece (http://wilson.med.harvard.edu/nb204/AuthorityAndAmericanUsage.pdf http://wilson.med.harvard.edu/nb204/AuthorityAndAmericanUsag...). I'd recommend it to anyone who likes Orwell's essay.
- igravious 10y agoAbsolutely. Would give this 10 upvotes if I could and would have said it myself if you had already done so. Also very relevant is the essay "Ideology, Power, and Linguistic Theory"[1] by linguist Geoffrey K. Pullum (2004). I believe the spiritual predecessor of all of these to be in many ways Schopenhauer's (1891) essay "On Style"[2] Both are short, readable, and nutritious. :) [1] https://people.ucsc.edu/~pullum/MLA2004.pdf https://people.ucsc.edu/~pullum/MLA2004.pdf [2] https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/lit/chapter2.html https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/s/schopenhauer/arthur/lit/cha...
- jnicholasp 10y agoBy far the most interesting, engaging, wide ranging, and thought provoking review of a dictionary I've ever read. The strength of this recommendation seems like it should be diminished by the fact that I've only ever read one review of a dictionary, but I defy anyone to produce a better one. If you can, though, I definitely want to read your candidate.