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> "Why is everyone confused that smart TVs are popular?" In his Appendix, Orwell explains the syntactical arrangement and the etymology of the Newspeak. A livi

> "Why is everyone confused that smart TVs are popular?" In his Appendix, Orwell explains the syntactical arrangement and the etymology of the Newspeak. A living language, such as English, one that has the capability of diverse expression, has the tendency to gain words and therefore broaden the awareness and knowledge of its speakers. Newspeak, on the other hand, loses words, by removing words that represent opposing concepts. Therefore, for example, because the word "good" presumes the opposite of "bad," the word "bad" is unnecessary. Similarly, all degrees of "goodness" can be expressed simply by adding standard prefixes and suffixes to this one root word: ungood (bad) and plusgood (very good) and doubleplusgood (wonderful). In so doing, Newspeak not only eliminates "unnecessary" words, but it also promotes a narrowing of thought and, therefore, awareness. The idea behind Newspeak is that, as language must become less expressive, the mind is more easily controlled. Through his creation and explanation of Newspeak, Orwell warns the reader that a government that creates the language and mandates how it is used can control the minds of its citizens. https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/n/1984/critical-essays/the-purpose-of-newspeak https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/n/1984/critical-essay...

hilbert42 5y ago
Right, true. Hovever, the matter of goodness/ethics, etc. is probably best summed up by G.E. Moore in his 1903 work Principia Ethica: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Ethica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Ethica
akomtu 5y ago
"Unscientific" is a good example.
- ip26 5y ago
  That isn't the hand of government at work. The term "scientist" is itself only ~200 years old. For centuries it was called things like "natural philosophy". We just haven't figured out a good antonym yet. Unfortunately, with the Latin root scientia meaning knowledge, the natural choice might be ignorantia. But ignorance is already in widespread use. Just try accusing someone unscientific of being ignorantific & see how that goes!
  - cto_of_antifa 5y ago
    the "opposite" of science isnt ignorance, though. science is a type of practice for rendering meaning in the world.
  - touisteur 5y ago
    I felt Pirsig quite hit the nail in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with his Romantic versus Classical dichotomy. I'm not sure I'll explain correctly, sorry, but that's what I often come back to, when I meet disdain or lack of trust in 'science'.
  - GoblinSlayer 5y ago
    The antonym is baloney.
MichaelGroves 5y ago
Smart TVs, Smart watches, Smart phones, Smart houses.. how did things become smart? As far as I can determine, the 'smart [thing]' linguistic construct started with 'smart bomb', a propaganda euphemism for guided bombs that emerged in the 70s. Does anybody have an earlier example? https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/26/archives/smart-bombs-and-dumb-bombs.html https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/26/archives/smart-bombs-and-...
- Y_Y 5y ago
  I had a quick look through this page for examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/smart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/smart There were "smart cards" in 1974, "smart casual" dress codes in 1924, and "Smart Set" magazine in 1900. A more careful look will surely find older and more relevant examples. Amusingly "smart money" and "smart tickets" existed in the 18th century, referring to the results of injuries ("ow, that smarts!"). See: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/smart https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/smart
  - MichaelGroves 5y ago
    I don't think any of these are examples of it. Smart cards in 1974 postdate smart bombs. "Smart casual" fashion is smart in the "Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable" sense, while smart bomb/phone are being used in this sense: "(often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology)." Smart bombs weren't called smart for being fashionably well dressed. The term was applied to guided bombs with fire-and-forget capabilities, which were first used during the Vietnam War.
    - Y_Y 5y ago
      "Smartass" was attested as early as 1960.
      - MichaelGroves 5y ago
        A smartass is a person, not a technological artifact. I don't mean to be nitpicky. There are a lot of ways the word smart has been paired with other words. But "smart [object]", where object is some bit of technology that is suggested to have intelligence in it is really what I'm looking for. If somebody in the 1950s had marketed "smart headlights" that automatically turn on at night, that would be an example of what I'm looking for. But I haven't found anything like that prior to "smart bombs."
1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
I have never encountered a group as amenable to "Newspeak" as software developers. For example, note how many times developers describe things, including "startups", in terms of what they "are" rather than what they "do".
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
  Strictly speaking, this is not "Newspeak" by Orwell's definition. However the underlying assumption seems to be the same: ambiguity is to be ignored, or eliminated. Fewer words are used; often they are made-up words. Details are hidden. Objectivity, i.e., how something works, is replaced with subjectivity, i.e., what something "is".

hilbert42 5y ago

Right, true. Hovever, the matter of goodness/ethics, etc. is probably best summed up by G.E. Moore in his 1903 work Principia Ethica: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Ethica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principia_Ethica

akomtu 5y ago

"Unscientific" is a good example.

ip26 5y ago
That isn't the hand of government at work. The term "scientist" is itself only ~200 years old. For centuries it was called things like "natural philosophy". We just haven't figured out a good antonym yet. Unfortunately, with the Latin root scientia meaning knowledge, the natural choice might be ignorantia. But ignorance is already in widespread use. Just try accusing someone unscientific of being ignorantific & see how that goes!
- cto_of_antifa 5y ago
  the "opposite" of science isnt ignorance, though. science is a type of practice for rendering meaning in the world.
- touisteur 5y ago
  I felt Pirsig quite hit the nail in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, with his Romantic versus Classical dichotomy. I'm not sure I'll explain correctly, sorry, but that's what I often come back to, when I meet disdain or lack of trust in 'science'.
- GoblinSlayer 5y ago
  The antonym is baloney.

MichaelGroves 5y ago

Smart TVs, Smart watches, Smart phones, Smart houses.. how did things become smart? As far as I can determine, the 'smart [thing]' linguistic construct started with 'smart bomb', a propaganda euphemism for guided bombs that emerged in the 70s. Does anybody have an earlier example? https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/26/archives/smart-bombs-and-dumb-bombs.html https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/26/archives/smart-bombs-and-...

Y_Y 5y ago
I had a quick look through this page for examples: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/smart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/smart There were "smart cards" in 1974, "smart casual" dress codes in 1924, and "Smart Set" magazine in 1900. A more careful look will surely find older and more relevant examples. Amusingly "smart money" and "smart tickets" existed in the 18th century, referring to the results of injuries ("ow, that smarts!"). See: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/smart https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/smart
- MichaelGroves 5y ago
  I don't think any of these are examples of it. Smart cards in 1974 postdate smart bombs. "Smart casual" fashion is smart in the "Good-looking; well dressed; fine; fashionable" sense, while smart bomb/phone are being used in this sense: "(often in combination) Equipped with intelligent behaviour (digital/computer technology)." Smart bombs weren't called smart for being fashionably well dressed. The term was applied to guided bombs with fire-and-forget capabilities, which were first used during the Vietnam War.
  - Y_Y 5y ago
    "Smartass" was attested as early as 1960.
    - MichaelGroves 5y ago
      A smartass is a person, not a technological artifact. I don't mean to be nitpicky. There are a lot of ways the word smart has been paired with other words. But "smart [object]", where object is some bit of technology that is suggested to have intelligence in it is really what I'm looking for. If somebody in the 1950s had marketed "smart headlights" that automatically turn on at night, that would be an example of what I'm looking for. But I haven't found anything like that prior to "smart bombs."

1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago

I have never encountered a group as amenable to "Newspeak" as software developers. For example, note how many times developers describe things, including "startups", in terms of what they "are" rather than what they "do".

1vuio0pswjnm7 5y ago
Strictly speaking, this is not "Newspeak" by Orwell's definition. However the underlying assumption seems to be the same: ambiguity is to be ignored, or eliminated. Fewer words are used; often they are made-up words. Details are hidden. Objectivity, i.e., how something works, is replaced with subjectivity, i.e., what something "is".