Orwell on political speech

I linked to David Foster Wallace's take on the use and misuse of English in this post a while back. I should also have included something about this 1949 essay by George Orwell. While Wallace defends standard English because it prevents ambiguity, Orwell, writing particularly about political speech, argues that our reliance on hackneyed, unoriginal words and phrases corrupts our thought, which in turn further corrupts our speech.

In the past week I've found myself talking about these essays on two occasions, and recommending the Orwell to a friend in the civil service. Seemed like a good time to re-read it. Here's some good advice:

...When you think of a concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the thing you have been visualizing, you probably hunt about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as clear as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards one can choose—not simply accept—the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch round and decide what impressions one’s words are likely to make on another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.

3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.

5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything barbarous.