Thursday, October 20, 2011
Enlgish Language
Orwell is saying that the English language is being abused and is not serving its main purpose which is communication. I believe that writing is for communication purposes. I think the author is right about using big words. Why use a enormous word when a regular word will do? "(iii) Never use a long word where a short one will do" (Orwell 64). As a reader I always hated reading text that required a large amount of skills to understand. Writers make their writing seem so advanced that what happens is it becomes difficult to understand and ultimately boring to read. Some people also argue that the English language is being ruined by modern day text messaging. I do not view this as ruining the English language. The language is about communication and if it is changing it means that people have changed it to make it better at communication.
I, like everyone found Orwell's reading very challenging, as you warned us it would be. However I do find that he makes some pretty valid points. (at least from what i understood of it). He claims that the English language is deteriorating and developing bad habits. I personally kind of interpreted his writing in my own way. In that my view of politics and the English Language is solely based off of technology. Long before technology boomed and kids at age 5 had cell phones words chosen for political campaigns or debates were carefully chosen and clearly articulated. Now that technology is prevalent politicians all own hand held devices.. obviously! They text, and tweet, and Facebook. Therefore their use of writing and articulating the English language has automatically become less sophisticated, for it is easier to quickly type something than to sit down with a pen and paper and correctly phrase the words on the page. When a politician writes a speech or arguments in courtrooms arise doesn't their use of lazy English slip? Isn't their grammar sloppy? How could it not be. They are so used to communicating in a conversational manner via technology. Therefore how can even our most leading men truly represent our country if they themselves are being taken over body mind sole and language by the different forms of technology? Just my personal thoughts!
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