On "Politics and the English Language"

George Orwell's "Politics and the English Language" is about how the English language has collapsed and worsened over time. Examples are used throughout the essay to support this and reveal what is seemingly wrong with modern English. It is noted that the language has become too vague because of pretentious diction and that many times people make their word choice more complicated than necessary by choosing common phrases rather than a simple conjunction or preposition. Also the use of dying metaphors adds to the worsening of the language because many tend to sway towards well-known metaphors, using them incorrectly, rather than construct a fitting one. Also Orwell argues that the language has become ugly because of our foolish thoughts, rather than the thoughts being a result of the language. This statement really caught my attention because I had not really thought about that before and I found I agreed. I enjoyed this essay because it opened my eyes to the flaws of the language I had not previously considered.