("...says Orwell. Catch phrases “will construct your sentences for you - even think your thoughts for you...") Throw out the cliches

Political writing tends to be bad writing, noted George Orwell in his 1946 essay “Politics and the English Language.”

English: Picture of George Orwell which appears in an old acreditation for the BNUJ. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Too often it’s a tool for deception and obfuscation rather than clear communication.

Orwell criticizes particularly those who rely on political catch phrases devised by others, throwing their minds open and “letting the ready-made phrases come crowding in.” It’s an easy way of avoiding the hard work good writing demands, says Orwell. Catch phrases “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’s amusing how often the cliche-stringers don’t even seem to realize what their fine-sounding phrases really mean or where they come from. Those who argue for an activist judiciary, for instance, often remind us that the Constitution created three “separate but equal” branches of government. “Separate but equal” has a nice, familiar ring to it, but it’s not in the Constitution. It comes from Plessy vs. Ferguson, the 1896 Supreme Court decision that ruled segregation perfectly legal.

And then there’s the “wrong side of history” meme.

(Excerpt) Read more at aberdeennews.com …

via Throw out the cliches.

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