As George Orwell points out in “Politics and the English Language,” one need not take on the responsibility of thinking when composing sentences:
You can shirk it by simply throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in. They will construct your sentences for you — even think your thoughts for you, to a certain extent — and at need they will perform the important service of partially concealing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special connexion between politics and the debasement of language becomes clear.
Please read the whole post.
October 6th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Thought you might like to see my own Sarah/Orwell post. If not, feel free to delete - I won’t be insulted. dontgelyet.typepad.com/dontgeltoosoon/2008/10/sarah-palin-joe.html