"A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure,
and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather
the same thing that is happening to the English language. 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. The point is that the process is reversible. Modern English,
especially written English, is full of bad habits which spread by
imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the
necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more
clearly. . . .
"If you simplify your English, you are
freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the
necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark its stupidity will
be obvious, even to yourself. Political language—and with variations
this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to
Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder
respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One
cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's
own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly
enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase—some jackboot, Achilles'
heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno, or other lump
of verbal refuse—into the dustbin, where it belongs."
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