It seems the phrase “glued to the news” is barely a metaphor these days. Once upon a time, good old newsprint literally transferred onto the skin. The tighter you held the page, or the longer you leaned in, the more words from the news fused onto your body. Now many of us read an infinite scroll of news unspooling before our eyes digitally, but the language we take in sticks all the same.
And that means we’re even more likely to be influenced by what George Orwell called slovenly language. Yes, that George Orwell. He’s a talking-point in the news himself these days, due to his allegorical fiction (namely 1984 and Animal Farm). But he also wrote about the dangers inherent in bad sentences, not just bad societies. And yes, there’s a connection between the two.
The use of language, says Orwell, “becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts.”
Sounds a bit harsh. Until you read on. He’s not just dissing disorganized diction. He has a solution.
“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, and to think clearly is a necessary first step toward political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the exclusive concern of professional writers.”
A refreshing thought, no? If you haven’t yet read his short but famous essay “Politics and the English Language,” you can find the whole thing here.
Take this as a rallying cry, writers. Your quest isn’t in vain, even if your draft gets scraped, or the poem you published in the pages of an obscure lit journal doesn’t find another venue, or the novel you publish in a small press with a small print run has a small audience.
If you’re striving for good craft, word by word—whether you are or are not achieving what you hope to achieve just yet—what you’re doing, every day, placing word after word, helps clarify your thinking. It helps to rid your mind of the riffraff and gunk embedded in and grifting on slovenly language.
And in turn, your well-crafted writing helps clarify the thoughts of your readers. It can challenge not only “foolish thoughts,” but dangerous thoughts.
Orwell also wrote, “Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.”
Let us work, word by word, to encourage clear thinking. Let us use good writing to channel our thoughts so they go deep, not shallow—and connect in ways that inspire and revitalize.