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For those not familiar with the novel to which stegosaurus is referring (doublespeak, boot stamping) - http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four http:/
by sjcsjc 12y ago
For those not familiar with the novel to which stegosaurus is referring (doublespeak, boot stamping) - http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four
Actually, I think it was newspeak and doublethink, but no matter.
- gjm11 12y agoIt was, but I think "double-talk" is in the mix too. (OED: meaning 1 is "Deliberately unintelligible speech; speech that is a mixture of real and invented words; gibberish" and meaning 2 is "Verbal expression intended to be, or which may be, construed in more than one sense; deliberately ambiguous or imprecise language; used esp. of political language that is subject to arbitrary national or party interpretation". Meaning 1 is pre-1984, meaning 2 maybe not. Oh, and OED actually knows of "double-speak" too, with the same meaning as "double-talk" #2. I suspect stegosaurus wasn't explicitly intending a 1984 reference when s/he mentioned "doublespeak".)
- stegosaurus 12y agoThe reference is essentially to Orwell's general idea of euphemism in political language. The use of flowering prose where simple words would do, in order to misdirect. See 'Politics and the English Language'; just as relevant today as it ever was; 'racism'/'fascism'/etc as generic conversation enders for example. Apologies for the mix up!