George Orwell "Polititcs and the English Language"

Kevin Mak
Christy Vance
English 102
10/27/09

Orwell explains that "language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes (Orwell)." For each own individual we speak in our own way and everyone's own "language" is different from others. Orwell describes how writing is full of bad habits and how we can reverse the process by thinking more clearly.
He then continues to talk about how metaphors are incorrectly used because some people do not know the correct meaning of the metaphors they use and therefore use them or fail to make up their own without the correct understanding of them. Another point by Orwell is that by picking out the right metaphors it saves time from picking out tricky verbs and nouns to match the metaphor symetrically. Another important topic Orwell talked about in his essay was using Latin or Greek rooted words. Using them made your paper untidy or "slovenliness," as he put it.
An interesting point was made by Orwell when he talked about meaningless words and how every regime uses different jargon to try and trick the audience into thinking something that is totally different.
Orwell's essay was very informative and helpful. I will use much of his information he has written and use it to my advantage in my own style of writing in the future. Orwell's writing was very sophisticated but very smooth and flowing. His articulation of wording and ways of describing in-depth topics was very interesting. I would like to look further into his other pieces of works.