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George Orwell

1903–1950

English writer of Nineteen Eighty-Four, Animal Farm and sharp essays on politics and language.

What they got right

He showed how vague words, euphemisms and slogans hide what is really being said, and how to translate them back into plain meaning.

Skill it shows

Interpreting an argument

Practise this skill

Also: Logical fallacies

Political language — and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists — is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
'Politics and the English Language' (1946) Source
To see what is in front of one's nose needs a constant struggle.
'In Front of Your Nose', Tribune, 22 March 1946

Worth knowing

In 1949 he gave a government propaganda unit (the IRD) a list of people he suspected of communist sympathies; historians still debate how to judge this. Many 'Orwell quotes' online are fake.

Try it yourself

Take a phrase from an advert or a politician (e.g. 'rightsizing'). Rewrite it in the plainest words you can. Does it still sound as good?