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Article: Language takes a turn for "plusungood." (distortions in English language)
- Article from:
- U.S. News & World Report
- Article date:
- January 2, 1984
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1984 All rights reserved. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Language Takes A Turn for "Plusungood'
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH
That is George Orwell's "Newspeak,' a mixture of contradiction and confusion cleverly designed to pacify and mislead the masses.
It was a mythical language forced on people by the government, full of euphemisms, exaggerations, lies and "doublethink' phrases to hide the real message.
Newspeak was also a shrunken language, purposely reduced to a few officially approved words with limited meanings, a vocabulary stripped of nuances and shades of difference to keep people from thinking independently.