4 ms·

I wonder what he'd say about memes. They seem to be the ultimate self-reinforcing de-evolution of language. In many ways, it seems like he is talking about mem

I wonder what he'd say about memes. They seem to be the ultimate self-reinforcing de-evolution of language. In many ways, it seems like he is talking about memes, just the memes of his own time. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.

pavlov 13y ago
I don't know about that. At least memes don't pretend to be anything else than they are. They are the unabashed verbal and visual equivalent of musical jingles, things designed to grab your attention and stick in your head, but nobody is suggesting that jingles are equivalent to Beethoven. Corporate PowerPoint-talk is the spiritual heir of what Orwell is mocking in his rewrite of the Old Testament passage. An ever-growing wall of "strategic" abstractions and vaguely Latin buzzwords is used to hide the debilitating lack of meaning and power that plagues the days of almost every mid-level manager at any established company.
- codezero 13y ago
  I agree they aren't intended to be high quality, but because of their ease of use and mimicry, they are often used in place of actually formulating a thought or statement which is similar to the themes in Orwell's piece. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better.
PavlovsCat 13y ago
When people say "epic", I hear "doubleplusgood". When I'm a bad mood I can't even stand "awesome"... it's used way to often, and rarely for things that inspire awe even in the speaker.
benched 13y ago
It depends what you mean by meme. In the original sense as used by Richard Dawkins, yes, hackneyed phrases are memes. But the now-common usage, as in Internet meme is more specific than that. It's more like an inside nerd joke - the kind that is supposed to get funnier with relentless repetition.

pavlov 13y ago

I don't know about that. At least memes don't pretend to be anything else than they are. They are the unabashed verbal and visual equivalent of musical jingles, things designed to grab your attention and stick in your head, but nobody is suggesting that jingles are equivalent to Beethoven. Corporate PowerPoint-talk is the spiritual heir of what Orwell is mocking in his rewrite of the Old Testament passage. An ever-growing wall of "strategic" abstractions and vaguely Latin buzzwords is used to hide the debilitating lack of meaning and power that plagues the days of almost every mid-level manager at any established company.

codezero 13y ago
I agree they aren't intended to be high quality, but because of their ease of use and mimicry, they are often used in place of actually formulating a thought or statement which is similar to the themes in Orwell's piece. But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation even among people who should and do know better.

PavlovsCat 13y ago

When people say "epic", I hear "doubleplusgood". When I'm a bad mood I can't even stand "awesome"... it's used way to often, and rarely for things that inspire awe even in the speaker.

benched 13y ago

It depends what you mean by meme. In the original sense as used by Richard Dawkins, yes, hackneyed phrases are memes. But the now-common usage, as in Internet meme is more specific than that. It's more like an inside nerd joke - the kind that is supposed to get funnier with relentless repetition.