George Orwell (1903–1950), born Eric Arthur Blair, was an English novelist and essayist whose work on the relationship between language and political thought remains foundational to writing about clarity.
Core ideas
- Language and thought are reciprocal: Orwell argued that slovenly language produces slovenly thinking, and slovenly thinking produces slovenly language. The relationship is circular and self-reinforcing [@orwell1946].
- Political language as concealment: political writing, in Orwell’s analysis, characteristically uses passive constructions, abstract nouns, and ready-made phrases to avoid naming what is actually happening. “Pacification” conceals bombing; “transfer of population” conceals deportation. Clear language makes concealment harder.
- Six rules for clear prose: (1) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech you’ve seen in print. (2) Never use a long word where a short one will do. (3) If it’s possible to cut a word, cut it. (4) Never use the passive where you can use the active. (5) Never use a foreign phrase, scientific word, or jargon if you can find an everyday English equivalent. (6) Break any of these rules sooner than say something outright barbarous.
Notable works
- “Politics and the English Language” (1946)
- Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949)
- Animal Farm (1945)
- Homage to Catalonia (1938)
Related
- plain language writing — Orwell’s essay anticipated many principles the plain language movement later formalized
- Joseph Williams — developed Orwell’s intuitions about clarity into systematic, teachable methods