The whole tendency of modern prose is away from concreteness
Today, people dance around a topic to avoid being criticized for expressing their thoughts and ideas, playing it safe.
10 Matching Annotations
- Sep 2024
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www.orwellfoundation.com www.orwellfoundation.com
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Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account
I understood the one above more than the revised passage. Even with older words and writing style, it makes more sense than the modern english translation.
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The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies ‘something not desirable’.
This is a good example. All I know of this word is that there's a negative association with it.
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If words like black and white were involved, instead of the jargon words dead and living, he would see at once that language was being used in an improper way. Many political words are similarly abused.
jargon words may have their place based on audience and now "jargon" words are so mainstream that to get rid of them might diminish our modern vocabulary, or seem to. I do agree though that many political words are warped or are associated incorrectly.
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there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now current in English
I disagree, I think we shouldn't have a small word bank to pull from when changing out words which can seem repetitive, but a large vocabulary of words that fit perfectly with the meaning that you're going for should be used when applicable.
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prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated hen-house.
This is familiar, and personally, it depends on what I'm writing about. The more passion you have for something, the more you naturally put into it. I feel there is less detail in today's writing.
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The first is staleness of imagery; the other is lack of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot express it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not
It seems between the differen't types of writers, people either hit one or the other. Clarity seems hard to achieve if you're trying to express a message, or perhaps it's more a matter of that we are also misunderstanding writers, who's fault is that though?
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nd all the frantic Fascist captains, united in common hatred of Socialism and bestial horror at the rising tide of the mass revolutionary movement, have turned to acts of provocation, to foul incendiarism, to medieval legends of poisoned wells, to legalize their own destruction of proletarian organizations, and rouse the agitated petty-bourgeoise to chauvinistic fervor on behalf of the fight against the revolutionary way out of the crisis.
Either I have a bit of smaller vocabulary (I don't understand quite everything that they're talking about) or there's just a lot of fluff.
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It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.
not all of it is like this, but there is a fair share of language and writing that has developed like this. calling our language "ugly" feels shameful
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language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
I think saying that the english language is in a decline doesn't make sense for this reason; maybe it's not a decline, perhaps just the slow movement of our language transitioning naturally and we shouldn't think of it as a collapse.
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