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肩書を与える: Politics and the English Language
Author: George Orwell
eBook No.: 0200151h.html
Language: English
Date first 地位，任命するd: February 2002
Date most recently updated: 損なう 2018

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Politics and the English Language

by

George Orwell

MOST people who bother with the 事柄 at all would 収容する／認める that the English language is in a bad way, but it is 一般に assumed that we cannot by conscious 活動／戦闘 do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent, and our language—so the argument runs—must 必然的に 株 in the general 崩壊（する）. It follows that any struggle against the 乱用 of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an 器具 which we 形態／調整 for our own 目的s.

Now, it is （疑いを）晴らす that the 拒絶する／低下する of a language must 最終的に have political and 経済的な 原因（となる）s: it is not 予定 簡単に to the bad 影響（力） of this or that individual writer. But an 影響 can become a 原因（となる）, 増強するing the 初めの 原因（となる） and producing the same 影響 in an 強めるd form, and so on 無期限に／不明確に. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a 失敗, and then fail all the more 完全に because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and 不確かの because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the 過程 is reversible. Modern English, 特に written English, is 十分な of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be 避けるd if one is willing to take the necessary trouble. If one gets rid of these habits one can think more 明確に, and to think 明確に is a necessary first step に向かって political regeneration: so that the fight against bad English is not frivolous and is not the 排除的 関心 of professional writers. I will come 支援する to this presently, and I hope that by that time the meaning of what I have said here will have become clearer. 一方／合間, here are five 見本／標本s of the English language as it is now habitually written.

These five passages have not been 選ぶd out because they are 特に bad—I could have 引用するd far worse if I had chosen—but because they illustrate さまざまな of the mental 副／悪徳行為s from which we now 苦しむ. They are a little below the 普通の／平均（する）, but are 公正に／かなり 代表者／国会議員 見本s. I number them so that I can 言及する 支援する to them when necessary:

(1) I am not, indeed, sure whether it is not true to say that the Milton who once seemed not unlike a seventeenth-century Shelley had not become, out of an experience ever more bitter in each year, more 外国人 (sic) to the 創立者 of that Jesuit sect which nothing could induce him to 許容する.

PROFESSOR HAROLD LASKI (Essay in Freedom of 表現)

(2) Above all, we cannot play ducks and drakes with a native 殴打／砲列 of idioms which 定める／命ずるs such egregious collocations of vocables as the Basic put up with or 許容する or put at a loss or bewilder.

PROFESSOR LANCELOT HOGBEN (Interglossa)

(3) On the one 味方する we have the 解放する／自由な personality; by 鮮明度／定義 it is not neurotic, for it has neither 衝突 nor dream. Its 願望（する）s, such as they are, are transparent, for they are just what institutional 是認 keeps in the 最前部 of consciousness; another institutional pattern would alter their number and intensity; there is little in them that is natural, irreducible, or culturally dangerous. But on the other 味方する, the social 社債 itself is nothing but the 相互の reflection of these self-安全な・保証する 正直さs. 解任する the 鮮明度／定義 of love. Is not this the very picture of a small academic? Where is there a place in this hall of mirrors for either personality or fraternity?

ESSAY ON PSYCHOLOGY in Politics (New York)

(4) All the "best people" from the gentlemen's clubs, and all the frantic 国粋主義者／ファシスト党員 captains, 部隊d in ありふれた 憎悪 of 社会主義 and bestial horror of the rising tide of the 集まり 革命の movement, have turned to 行為／法令／行動するs of 誘発, to foul incendiarism, to 中世 legends of 毒（薬）d 井戸／弁護士席s, to 合法化する their own 破壊 of proletarian organizations, and rouse the agitated petty-bourgeoisie to chauvinistic fervor on に代わって of the fight against the 革命の way out of the 危機.

COMMUNIST PAMPHLET

(5) If a new spirit is to be infused into this old country, there is one 厄介な and contentious 改革（する） which must be 取り組むd, and that is the humanization and galvanization of the B.B.C. Timidity here will bespeak canker and atrophy of the soul. The heart of Britain may be sound and of strong （警官の）巡回区域，受持ち区域, for instance, but the British lion's roar at 現在の is like that of 底（に届く） in Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream—as gentle as any sucking dove. A virile new Britain cannot continue 無期限に／不明確に to be traduced in the 注目する，もくろむs, or rather ears, of the world by the effete languors of Langham Place, brazenly masquerading as "基準 English." When the 発言する／表明する of Britain is heard at nine o'clock, better far and infinitely いっそう少なく ludicrous to hear aitches honestly dropped than the 現在の priggish, inflated, inhibited, school-ma'am-ish arch braying of blameless bashful mewing maidens.

LETTER IN Tribune

Each of these passages has faults of its own, but やめる apart from avoidable ugliness, two 質s are ありふれた to all of them. The first is staleness of imagery; the other is 欠如（する） of precision. The writer either has a meaning and cannot 表明する it, or he inadvertently says something else, or he is almost indifferent as to whether his words mean anything or not. This mixture of vagueness and sheer 無資格／無能力 is the most 示すd characteristic of modern English prose, and 特に of any 肉親，親類d of political 令状ing. As soon as 確かな topics are raised, the 固める／コンクリート melts into the abstract and no one seems able to think of turns of speech that are not hackneyed: prose consists いっそう少なく and いっそう少なく of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated 女／おっせかい屋-house. I 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） below, with 公式文書，認めるs and examples, さまざまな of the tricks by means of which the work of prose-construction is habitually dodged:

Dying metaphors. A newly-invented metaphor 補助装置s thought by evoking a visual image, while on the other 手渡す a metaphor which is technically "dead" (e.g., アイロンをかける 決意／決議) has in 影響 逆戻りするd to 存在 an ordinary word and can 一般に be used without loss of vividness. But in between these two classes there is a 抱擁する 捨てる of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative 力／強力にする and are 単に used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves. Examples are: （犯罪の）一味 the changes on, （問題を）取り上げる the cudgels for, toe the line, ride roughshod over, stand shoulder to shoulder with, play into the 手渡すs of, an axe to grind, grist to the mill, fishing in troubled waters, on the order of the day, Achilles' heel, swan song, hotbed. Many of these are used without knowledge of their meaning (what is a "不和," for instance?), and 相いれない metaphors are frequently mixed, a sure 調印する that the writer is not 利益／興味d in what he is 説. Some metaphors now 現在の have been 新たな展開d out of their 初めの meaning without those who use them even 存在 aware of the fact. For example, toe the line is いつかs written 牽引する the line. Another example is the 大打撃を与える and the anvil, now always used with the 関わりあい／含蓄 that the anvil gets the worst of it. In real life it is always the anvil that breaks the 大打撃を与える, never the other way about: a writer who stopped to think what he was 説 would be aware of this, and would 避ける perverting the 初めの phrase.

操作者s, or 言葉の 誤った 四肢s. These save the trouble of 選ぶing out appropriate verbs and nouns, and at the same time pad each 宣告，判決 with extra syllables which give it an 外見 of symmetry. Characteristic phrases are: （判決などを）下す inoperative, militate against, 証明する 容認できない, make 接触する with, be 支配するd to, give rise to, give grounds for, having the 影響 of, play a 主要な part (役割) in, make itself felt, 施行される, 展示（する） a 傾向 to, serve the 目的 of, etc., etc. The 基本方針 is the 排除／予選 of simple verbs. Instead of 存在 a 選び出す／独身 word, such as break, stop, spoil, mend, kill, a verb becomes a phrase, made up of a noun or adjective tacked on to some general-目的s verb as 証明する, serve, form, play, （判決などを）下す. In 新規加入, the passive 発言する／表明する is wherever possible used in preference to the active, and noun constructions are used instead of gerunds (by examination of instead of by 診察するing). The 範囲 of verbs is その上の 削減（する） 負かす／撃墜する by means of the '-ize' and 'de-' 形式s, and banal 声明s are given an 外見 of profundity by means of the not 'un-' 形式. Simple 合同s and prepositions are 取って代わるd by such phrases as with 尊敬（する）・点 to, having regard to, the fact that, by dint of, in 見解（をとる） of, in the 利益／興味s of, on the hypothesis that; and the ends of 宣告，判決s are saved from anti-最高潮 by such resounding commonplaces as 大いに to be 願望（する）d, cannot be left out of account, a 開発 to be 推定する／予想するd in the 近づく 未来, deserving of serious consideration, brought to a 満足な 結論, and so on and so 前へ／外へ.

Pretentious diction. Words like 現象, element, individual (as noun), 客観的な, categorical, 効果的な, 事実上の, basis, 最初の／主要な, 促進する, 構成する, 展示（する）, 偉業／利用する, 利用する, 除去する, （負債など）支払う, are used to dress up simple 声明s and give an 空気／公表する of 科学の 公平さ to biased judgments. Adjectives like 時代-making, epic, historic, unforgettable, 勝利を得た, age-old, 必然的な, inexorable, veritable, are used to dignify the sordid 過程s of international politics, while 令状ing that 目的（とする）s at glorifying war usually takes on an archaic color, its characteristic words 存在: realm, 王位, chariot, mailed 握りこぶし, 核搭載ミサイル, sword, 保護物，者, buckler, 旗，新聞一面トップの大見出し／大々的に報道する, jackboot, clarion. Foreign words and 表現s such as cul de sac, ancien 政権, deus ex machina, mutatis mutandis, status quo, gleichschaltung, weltanschauung, are used to give an 空気／公表する of culture and elegance. Except for the useful abbreviations i.e., e.g., and etc., there is no real need for any of the hundreds of foreign phrases now 現在の in English. Bad writers, and 特に 科学の, political and sociological writers, are nearly always haunted by the notion that Latin or Greek words are grander than Saxon ones, and unnecessary words like 促進する, ameliorate, 予報する, extraneous, deracinated, 内密の, subaqueous and hundreds of others 絶えず 伸び（る） ground from their Anglo-Saxon opposite numbers. The jargon peculiar to Marxist 令状ing (hyena, hangman, cannibal, petty bourgeois, these gentry, lackey, flunkey, mad dog, White Guard, etc.) consists 大部分は of words and phrases translated from ロシアの, German or French; but the normal way of coining a new word is to use a Latin or Greek root with the appropriate affix and, where necessary, the '-ize' 形式. It is often easier to （不足などを）補う words of this 肉親，親類d (de-regionalize, 許すことの出来ない, extramarital, 非，不，無-fragmentary and so 前へ／外へ) than to think up the English words that will cover one's meaning. The result, in general, is an 増加する in slovenliness and vagueness.

1. An 利益／興味ing illustration of this is the way in which the English flower 指名するs which were in use till very recently are 存在 追い出すd by Greek ones, snap-dragon becoming antirrhinum, forget-me-not becoming myosotis, etc. It is hard to see any practical 推論する／理由 for this change of fashion: it is probably 予定 to an 直感的に turning-away from the more homely word and a vague feeling that the Greek word is 科学の.

Meaningless words. In 確かな 肉親，親類d of 令状ing, 特に in art 批評 and literary 批評, it is normal to come across long passages which are almost 完全に 欠如（する）ing in meaning.2 Words like romantic, plastic, values, human, dead, sentimental, natural, vitality, as used in art 批評, are 厳密に meaningless, in the sense that they not only do not point to any discoverable 反対する, but are hardly even 推定する／予想するd to do so by the reader. When one critic 令状s, "The 優れた feature of Mr. X's work is its living 質," while another 令状s, "The すぐに striking thing about Mr. X's work is its peculiar deadness," the reader 受託するs this as a simple difference of opinion If words like 黒人／ボイコット and white were 伴う／関わるd, instead of the jargon words dead and living, he would see at once that language was 存在 used in an 妥当でない way. Many political words are 類似して 乱用d. The word Fascism has now no meaning except in so far as it signifies "something not 望ましい." The words 僕主主義, 社会主義, freedom, 愛国的な, 現実主義の, 司法（官）, have each of them several different meanings which cannot be reconciled with one another. In the 事例／患者 of a word like 僕主主義, not only is there no agreed 鮮明度／定義, but the 試みる／企てる to make one is resisted from all 味方するs. It is almost universally felt that when we call a country democratic we are 賞賛するing it: その結果 the defenders of every 肉親，親類d of 政権 （人命などを）奪う，主張する that it is a 僕主主義, and 恐れる that they might have to stop using the word if it were tied 負かす／撃墜する to any one meaning. Words of this 肉親，親類d are often used in a consciously dishonest way. That is, the person who uses them has his own 私的な 鮮明度／定義, but 許すs his hearer to think he means something やめる different. 声明s like 保安官 Petain was a true 愛国者, The Soviet 圧力（をかける） is the freest in the world, The カトリック教徒 Church is …に反対するd to 迫害, are almost always made with 意図 to deceive. Other words used in variable meanings, in most 事例／患者s more or いっそう少なく dishonestly, are: class, 全体主義者, science, 進歩／革新的な, reactionary bourgeois, equality.

2. Example: "慰安's catholicity of perception and image, strangely Whitmanesque in 範囲, almost the exact opposite in aesthetic compulsion, continues to evoke that trembling atmospheric 累積的な hinting at a cruel, an inexorably serene timelessness . . . Wrey Gardiner 得点する／非難する／２０s by 目的（とする）ing at simple bullseyes with precision. Only they are not so simple, and through this contented sadness runs more than the surface bittersweet of 辞職." (Poetry 年４回の.)

Now that I have made this 目録 of 搾取するs and perversions, let me give another example of the 肉親，親類d of 令状ing that they lead to. This time it must of its nature be an imaginary one. I am going to translate a passage of good English into modern English of the worst sort. Here is a 井戸／弁護士席-known 詩（を作る） from Ecclesiastes:

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the 戦う／戦い to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet 好意 to men of 技術; but time and chance happeneth

Here it is in modern English:

客観的な consideration of 同時代の phenomena 強要するs the 結論 that success or 失敗 in 競争の激しい activities 展示（する）s no 傾向 to be 相応した with innate capacity, but that a かなりの element of the 予測できない must invariably be taken into account.

This is a parody, but not a very 甚だしい／１２ダース one. 展示（する） (3), above, for instance, 含む／封じ込めるs several patches of the same 肉親，親類d of English. It will be seen that I have not made a 十分な translation. The beginning and ending of the 宣告，判決 follow the 初めの meaning 公正に／かなり closely, but in the middle the 固める／コンクリート illustrations—race, 戦う／戦い, bread—解散させる into the vague phrase "success or 失敗 in 競争の激しい activities." This had to be so, because no modern writer of the 肉親，親類d I am discussing—no one 有能な of using phrases like "客観的な consideration of 同時代の phenomena"—would ever 一覧表にする his thoughts in that 正確な and 詳細（に述べる）d way. The whole 傾向 of modern prose is away from concreteness. Now 分析する these two 宣告，判決s a little more closely. The first 含む／封じ込めるs 49 words but only 60 syllables, and all its words are those of everyday life. The second 含む／封じ込めるs 38 words of 90 syllables: 18 of its words are from Latin roots, and one from Greek. The first 宣告，判決 含む／封じ込めるs six vivid images, and only one phrase ("time and chance") that could be called vague. The second 含む／封じ込めるs not a 選び出す／独身 fresh, 逮捕（する）ing phrase, and in spite of its 90 syllables it gives only a 縮めるd 見解／翻訳／版 of the meaning 含む／封じ込めるd in the first. Yet without a 疑問 it is the second 肉親，親類d of 宣告，判決 that is 伸び（る）ing ground in modern English. I do not want to 誇張する. This 肉親，親類d of 令状ing is not yet 全世界の／万国共通の, and outcrops of 簡単 will occur here and there in the worst-written page. Still, if you or I were told to 令状 a few lines on the 不確定 of human fortunes, we should probably come much nearer to my imaginary 宣告，判決 than to the one from Ecclesiastes.

As I have tried to show, modern 令状ing at its worst does not consist in 選ぶing out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long （土地などの）細長い一片s of words which have already been 始める，決める in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug. The attraction of this way of 令状ing, is that it is 平易な. It is easier—even quicker, once you have the habit—to say In my opinion it is a not 正統化できない 仮定／引き受けること that than to say I think. If you use ready-made phrases, you not only don't have to 追跡（する） about for words; you also don't have to bother with the rhythms of your 宣告，判決s, since these phrases are 一般に so arranged as to be more or いっそう少なく euphonious. When you are composing in a hurry—when you are dictating to a stenographer, for instance, or making a public speech—it is natural to 落ちる into a pretentious, Latinized style. Tags like a consideration which we should do 井戸／弁護士席 to 耐える in mind or a 結論 to which all of us would readily assent will save many a 宣告，判決 from coming 負かす／撃墜する with a bump. By using stale metaphors, similes and idioms, you save much mental 成果／努力 at the cost of leaving your meaning vague, not only for your reader but for yourself. This is the significance of mixed metaphors. The 単独の 目的（とする） of a metaphor is to call up a visual image. When these images 衝突／不一致—as in The 国粋主義者／ファシスト党員 octopus has sung its swan song, the jackboot is thrown into the melting マリファナ—it can be taken as 確かな that the writer is not seeing a mental image of the 反対するs he is 指名するing; in other words he is not really thinking. Look again at the examples I gave at the beginning of this essay. Professor Laski (1) uses five 消極的なs in 53 words. One of these is superfluous, making nonsense of the whole passage, and in 新規加入 there is the slip 外国人 for akin, making その上の nonsense, and several avoidable pieces of clumsiness which 増加する the general vagueness. Professor Hogben (2) plays ducks and drakes with a 殴打／砲列 which is able to 令状 prescriptions, and, while disapproving of the everyday phrase put up with, is unwilling to look egregious up in the dictionary and see what it means. (3), if one takes an uncharitable 態度 に向かって it, is 簡単に meaningless: probably one could work out its ーするつもりであるd meaning by reading the whole of the article in which it occurs. In (4), the writer knows more or いっそう少なく what he wants to say, but an accumulation of stale phrases chokes him like tea leaves 封鎖するing a 沈む. In (5), words and meaning have almost parted company. People who 令状 in this manner usually have a general emotional meaning—they dislike one thing and want to 表明する 団結 with another—but they are not 利益／興味d in the 詳細（に述べる） of what they are 説. A scrupulous writer, in every 宣告，判決 that he 令状s, will ask himself at least four questions, thus: What am I trying to say? What words will 表明する it? What image or idiom will make it clearer? Is this image fresh enough to have an 影響? And he will probably ask himself two more: Could I put it more すぐに? Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly? But you are not 強いるd to go to all this trouble. You can shirk it by 簡単に throwing your mind open and letting the ready-made phrases come （人が）群がるing in. They will 建設する your 宣告，判決s for you—even think your thoughts for you, to a 確かな extent-and at need they will 成し遂げる the important service of 部分的に／不公平に 隠すing your meaning even from yourself. It is at this point that the special 関係 between politics and the debasement of language becomes （疑いを）晴らす.

In our time it is 概して true that political 令状ing is bad 令状ing. Where it is not true, it will 一般に be 設立する that the writer is some 肉親，親類d of 反逆者／反逆する, 表明するing his 私的な opinions and not a "party line." Orthodoxy, of whatever color, seems to 需要・要求する a lifeless, imitative style. The political dialects to be 設立する in 小冊子s, 主要な articles, manifestoes, White Papers and the speeches of under-長官s do, of course, 変化させる from party to party, but they are all alike in that one almost never finds in them a fresh, vivid, home-made turn of speech. When one watches some tired 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセス on the 壇・綱領・公約 mechanically repeating the familiar phrases—bestial 残虐（行為）s, アイロンをかける heel, bloodstained tyranny, 解放する／自由な peoples of the world, stand shoulder to shoulder—one often has a curious feeling that one is not watching a live human 存在 but some 肉親，親類d of 模造の: a feeling which suddenly becomes stronger at moments when the light catches the （衆議院の）議長's spectacles and turns them into blank レコードs which seem to have no 注目する，もくろむs behind them. And this is not altogether fanciful. A （衆議院の）議長 who uses that 肉親，親類d of phraseology has gone some distance に向かって turning himself into a machine. The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not 伴う／関わるd as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself. If the speech he is making is one that he is accustomed to make over and over again, he may be almost unconscious of what he is 説, as one is when one utters the 返答s in church. And this 減ずるd 明言する／公表する of consciousness, if not 不可欠の, is at any 率 都合のよい to political 順応／服従.

In our time, political speech and 令状ing are 大部分は the 弁護 of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British 支配する in India, the ロシアの 粛清するs and 国外追放s, the dropping of the 原子 爆弾s on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too 残虐な for most people to 直面する, and which do not square with the professed 目的（とする）s of 政党s. Thus political language has to consist 大部分は of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness. Defenseless villages are 砲撃するd from the 空気／公表する, the inhabitants driven out into the countryside, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts 始める，決める on 解雇する／砲火／射撃 with incendiary 弾丸s: this is called pacification. Millions of 小作農民s are robbed of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can carry: this is called 移転 of 全住民 or rectification of frontiers. People are 拘留するd for years without 裁判，公判, or 発射 in the 支援する of the neck or sent to die of scurvy in 北極の 板材 （軍の）野営地，陣営s: this is called 排除／予選 of unreliable elements. Such phraseology is needed if one wants to 指名する things without calling up mental pictures of them. Consider for instance some comfortable English professor defending ロシアの 全体主義. He cannot say 完全な, "I believe in 殺人，大当り off your 対抗者s when you can get good results by doing so." Probably, therefore, he will say something like this:

While 自由に 譲歩するing that the Soviet 政権 展示（する）s 確かな features which the 人道的な may be inclined to 嘆き悲しむ, we must, I think, agree that a 確かな curtailment of the 権利 to political 対立 is an 避けられない concomitant of 過度期の periods, and that the rigors which the ロシアの people have been called upon to を受ける have been amply 正当化するd in the sphere of 固める／コンクリート 業績／成就.

The inflated style is itself a 肉親，親類d of euphemism. A 集まり of Latin words 落ちるs upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the 輪郭（を描く）s and covering up all the 詳細（に述べる）s. The 広大な／多数の／重要な enemy of （疑いを）晴らす language is insincerity. When there is a gap between one's real and one's 宣言するd 目的（とする）s, one turns, as it were instinctively, to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out 署名／調印する. In our age there is no such thing as "keeping out of politics." All 問題／発行するs are political 問題／発行するs, and politics itself is a 集まり of lies, 回避s, folly, 憎悪 and schizophrenia. When the general atmosphere is bad, language must 苦しむ. I should 推定する／予想する to find—this is a guess which I have not 十分な knowledge to 立証する—that the German, ロシアの and Italian languages have all 悪化するd in the last ten or fifteen years as a result of 独裁政治.

But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought. A bad usage can spread by tradition and imitation, even の中で people who should and do know better. The debased language that I have been discussing is in some ways very convenient. Phrases like a not 正統化できない 仮定／引き受けること, leaves much to be 願望（する）d, would serve no good 目的, a consideration which we should do 井戸／弁護士席 to 耐える in mind, are a continuous 誘惑, a packet of aspirins always at one's 肘. Look 支援する through this essay, and for 確かな you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am 抗議するing against. By this morning's 地位，任命する I have received a 小冊子 取引，協定ing with 条件s in Germany. The author tells me that he "felt impelled" to 令状 it. I open it at 無作為の, and here is almost the first 宣告，判決 that I see: "[The 同盟（する）s] have an 適切な時期 not only of 達成するing a 過激な 変形 of Germany's social and political structure in such a way as to 避ける a nationalistic reaction in Germany itself, but at the same time of laying the 創立／基礎s of a 協同組合 and 統一するd Europe." You see, he "feels impelled" to 令状—feels, 推定では, that he has something new to say—and yet his words, like cavalry horses answering the bugle, group themselves automatically into the familiar dreary pattern. This 侵略 of one's mind by ready-made phrases (lay the 創立／基礎s, 達成する a 過激な 変形) can only be 妨げるd if one is 絶えず on guard against them, and every such phrase anesthetizes a 部分 of one's brain.

I said earlier that the decadence of our language is probably curable. Those who 否定する this would argue, if they produced an argument at all, that language 単に 反映するs 存在するing social 条件s, and that we cannot 影響（力） its 開発 by any direct tinkering with words and constructions. So far as the general トン or spirit of a language goes, this may be true, but it is not true in 詳細（に述べる）. Silly words and 表現s have often disappeared, not through any evolutionary 過程 but 借りがあるing to the conscious 活動／戦闘 of a 少数，小数派. Two 最近の examples were 調査する every avenue and leave no 石／投石する unturned, which were killed by the jeers of a few 新聞記者／雑誌記者s. There is a long 名簿（に載せる）／表（にあげる） of 飛行機で行く-blown metaphors which could 類似して be got rid of if enough people would 利益／興味 themselves in the 職業; and it should also be possible to laugh the not 'un-' 形式 out of 存在,3 to 減ずる the 量 of Latin and Greek in the 普通の／平均（する） 宣告，判決, to 運動 out foreign phrases and 逸脱するd 科学の words, and, in general, to make pretentiousness unfashionable. But all these are minor points. The 弁護 of the English language 暗示するs more than this, and perhaps it is best to start by 説 what it does not 暗示する.

3. One can cure oneself of the not 'un-' 形式 by memorizing this 宣告，判決: A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field.

To begin with, it has nothing to do with archaism, with the 海難救助ing of obsolete words and turns of speech, or with the setting-up of a "基準-English" which must never be 出発／死d from. On the contrary, it is 特に 関心d with the scrapping of every word or idiom which has outworn its usefulness. It has nothing to do with 訂正する grammar and syntax, which are of no importance so long as one makes one's meaning （疑いを）晴らす, or with the avoidance of Americanisms, or with having what is called a "good prose style." On the other 手渡す it is not 関心d with 偽の 簡単 and the 試みる／企てる to make written English colloquial. Nor does it even 暗示する in every 事例／患者 preferring the Saxon word to the Latin one, though it does 暗示する using the fewest and shortest words that will cover one's meaning. What is above all needed is to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about. In prose, the worst thing one can do with words is to 降伏する them. When you think of a 固める／コンクリート 反対する, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to 述べる the thing you have been visualizing, you probably 追跡（する） about till you find the exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious 成果／努力 to 妨げる it, the 存在するing dialect will come 急ぐing in and do the 職業 for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one's meaning as （疑いを）晴らす as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards one can choose—not 簡単に 受託する—the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then switch 一連の会議、交渉／完成する and decide what impressions one's words are likely to make on another person. This last 成果／努力 of the mind 削減（する）s out all stale or mixed images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and vagueness 一般に. But one can often be in 疑問 about the 影響 of a word or a phrase, and one needs 支配するs that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the に引き続いて 支配するs will cover most 事例／患者s:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile or other 人物／姿／数字 of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never use a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to 削減（する） a word out, always 削減（する） it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a 科学の word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English 同等（の）.

(vi) Break any of these 支配するs sooner than say anything barbarous.

These 支配するs sound elementary, and so they are, but they 需要・要求する a 深い change of 態度 in anyone who has grown used to 令状ing in the style now 流行の／上流の. One could keep all of them and still 令状 bad English, but one could not 令状 the 肉親，親類d of stuff that I 引用するd in these five 見本／標本s at the beginning of this article.

I have not here been considering the literary use of language, but 単に language as an 器具 for 表明するing and not for 隠すing or 妨げるing thought. Stuart Chase and others have come 近づく to （人命などを）奪う，主張するing that all abstract words are meaningless, and have used this as a pretext for 支持するing a 肉親，親類d of political quietism. Since you don't know what Fascism is, how can you struggle against Fascism? One need not swallow such absurdities as this, but one せねばならない 認める that the 現在の political 大混乱 is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some 改良 by starting at the 言葉の end. If you 簡単にする your English, you are 解放する／自由なd from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid 発言／述べる its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language-and with variations this is true of all political parties, from 保守的なs to Anarchists—is designed to make lies sound truthful and 殺人 respectable. and to give an 外見 of solidity to pure 勝利，勝つd. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase—some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting マリファナ, 酸性の 実験（する）, veritable inferno or other lump of 言葉の 辞退する—into the dustbin where it belongs.

THE END

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