Doublespeak In English Language

Semantics are often dismissed as unimportant. However, when it comes to effectively communicating meaning, semantics are vital. When the sender of information uses the wrong words to convey their message, the

Each “hearer” also interprets what he hears as a beholder.  Consequently, if an English speaker, or writer desires to convey a message, truth, fiction or nonfiction, entertainment, persuasion, evidence of fact, he must use correct language, perhaps colloquialisms, be aware of the listeners, their education, culture, motivation and attention. The written and spoken language can be used to deceive as well as to inform.  Advertisement, celebrities, leading preachers, politicians are used to provide a single perspective, not thorough information leading to a reasoned conclusion.

In the world of politics, courtrooms, banks, hospitals, and even at mechanic shops some amount of doublespeak is lingering. Lutz’s article proves how frequent the use of double speak is and manipulative and decisive the people who use it actually are. After reading this essay, it has become obvious to me that Doublespeak has been used on me throughout my entire life. This article has taught me to analyze and investigate phrases that are convoluted or meaninglessly complicated. His paper teaches the reader to ignore the useless information and strip down a phrase to what it really means. Through Lutz’s use of numerous personal and historical examples, he is able to effectively argue his opinion of the negative uses of doublespeak. Audiences who are often confused or misled by speakers various tactics of doublespeak would highly benefit from this article. In order to understand doublespeak one must first understand why speakers use it and what effects it has on the public. Professionals use doublespeak to deceive because it distorts reality in favor of the speaker, it confuses and corrupts the audiences’ thinking, and it avoids responsibility.

George Orwell, in an essay from Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays titled “Politics and the English Language” (1950), argues that the English language, through a cyclical process of sloven language and foolish thought, has become “ugly and inaccurate.” He supports his argument by using expert opinion, metaphors, and historical context. Orwell’s purpose is to demonstrate the debasement of the English language in order to prompt writers to make a conscious change in their writing . He adopts an informal tone (“Look back throughout this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against”) for writers in a time of political turnover and rising superpowers.

The use of propaganda and double-speaking have a long history, going back to the ancient societies. Propaganda and doublespeak are the use of verbal exchange to have an effect on the emotions, attitudes, and opinions of human beings. To try to get them to accept a particular political, religious, or financial point of view, or even to start a war. It is careful manipulation of the opinions of the societies mostly by their government. In the effort to control the nation 's thought process, the government has stemmed to using mass propaganda for selling a war.

George Orwell’s essay, Politics and the English Language, first published in 1946, talks about some “bad habits”, which have driven the English language in the wrong direction, that is, away from communicating ideas. In his essay he quotes five passages, each from a different author, which embody the faults he is talking about. He lists dying metaphors, operators, pretentious diction, and meaningless words as things to look out for in your own writing and the writing of others (593-595). He talks about political uses of the English language. Our language has become ugly and the ugliness impedes upon communication. Ugly uses of language have been reinforced and passed down in the population “even among people who should and do know

The essay “She’s Your Basic LOL in NAD” written by Perri Klass is about medical language. Medical language can be helpful and also harmful to anyone working in the medical field. I also agree that there are pros and cons to the medical jargon. Klass believes special languages add a sense of closure, confuse a new medical employee and the important part about medical jargon is to help doctors understand but not the patients.

were largely time-constrained. Furthermore, we also used Luntz’s principle of simplicity when giving our presentation as we did not delve into the minutia of most of the issues, opting instead for presenting a broad overview and the key findings which supported our proposition. In “Ten Rules of Effective Language” Luntz justifies his brevity claim by showing the number of successful brands that employ short, but memorable taglines such as Nike, Dell and 7-up. Luntz also provides evidence for his advice on using simplicity by stating that the majority of Americans have not graduate college and that, in general, the use of larger than necessary words elicits suspicion (Luntz, 2007). In our presentation’s strategy therefore, we attempted to take

Jargon is used by professionals to communicate effectively and easier within their group or profession, this is when it is effective. It probably would not be effective from professional to service user. This would only be used in professional settings such as meetings.

A common language: jargon is common to many business. It is a convenient short hand form of communication, but is also effect behaviour. Disney employees are “cast crew” while McDonalds employee are “crew Members”.

“Doublespeak” can be seen frequently in the world of 1984. The party’s big slogan “WAR IS PEACE. FREEDOM IS SLAVERY. IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.” (George Orwell, 4) is an good example. The idea of the slogan is to convince the citizens that what they want, is what they already have. Only war can make peace and harmony, so peace is no longer peace, it becomes war; anyone who is slaved and wants freedom, he already has freedom; you can only strengthen yourself by not knowing things and being ignorant. The slogan changes truth and make the citizens believe that anything they want other than what their government wants can only make them unhappy, therefore, no one will consider rebellion because they believe the Party’s way of governing is the best and only way. “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU” (George Orwell, 3) is

The use of propaganda and doublespeak have a long history, going back to the ancient societies. Propaganda and doublespeak are the use of verbal exchange to have an effect on the emotions, attitudes, and opinions of human beings. To try to get them to accept a particular political, religious, or financial point of view, or even to start a war. It is careful manipulation of the opinions of the societies mostly by their government. In the effort to control the nation 's thought process, the government has used mass propaganda for selling a war.

In the essay “Doubts About Doublespeak”(1993), William Lutz depicts how utilizing doublespeak can damage a society. Lutz begins with providing examples of doublespeak that range from silly to serious, showing how doublespeak can be harmless, but also disguise a truth with a manipulation of words. There are many different types of doublespeak, Lutz breaks it down into four different categories euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook and inflated language. By breaking them down, Lutz shows the audience that they share similarities in which they make something negative sound better than it is. There are more types of doublespeak that can be seen all around us, moreover, as more doublespeak is being created everyday and everywhere it becomes difficult

Some professionals may use technical terms (jargons) resulting to lack of understanding about the roles of different partners.

Doublespeak is language that deliberately disguises or reverses the meaning of words. It pretends to communicate but in fact it does not(lutz).Primarily, it is meant to make the truth sound more palatable. In other words, doublespeak is the changing or switching of words to make an unpleasant, tricky, negative situation sound not as awful. The language is used to confuse and manipulate people.