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> one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase ... into the dustbin, where it belongs. Such a fitting sentence on which to end the essay, since "dustbin" is no longer part of the modern English lexicon, as far as I know.
> one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase ... into the dustbin, where it belongs. Such a fitting sentence on which to end the essay, since "dustbin" is no longer part of the modern English lexicon, as far as I know.
If you're as turned off by the formatting of this page as I am, I'm currently working on a CSS framework to beautifully display longform text. As luck would have it, this essay was my test case: http://alexgolec.github.io/orwell/politics
> one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase ... into the dustbin, where it belongs. Such a fitting sentence on which to end the essay, since "dustbin" is no longer part of the modern English lexicon, as far as I know.
If you're as turned off by the formatting of this page as I am, I'm currently working on a CSS framework to beautifully display longform text. As luck would have it, this essay was my test case: http://alexgolec.github.io/orwell/politics
p { max-width: 30em; }I wonder what he'd say about memes. They seem to be the ultimate self-reinforcing de-evolution of language. In many ways, it seems like he is talking about memes, just the memes of his own time. But in between these two classes there is a huge dump of worn-out metaphors which have lost all evocative power and are merely used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.
The more I read Orwell's essays of the 1940s the more they seem like a master class in how to write, which means they are also a master class in how to think. The clarity and impact in his style are so powerful that it's actually shocking. Moreover, it seems to be aging well, so Orwell's reputation (specifically for this) has been increasing. Other great examples: http://orwell.ru/library/essays/wiw/english/e_wiw htt…
> one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase ... into the dustbin, where it belongs. Such a fitting sentence on which to end the essay, since "dustbin" is no longer part of the modern English lexicon, as far as I know.
I should say "dustbin" is second only to "bin" in the UK. "Dustbin" perhaps favoured slightly by the older generations. Interestingly the reason we call it a dustbin is because people were used to being thrifty with their food, especially during the war and post-war years, and almost the only sort of refuse put out for collection was 100% inert dust and the odd animal bone ... people burnt or ate everything else. Tha…
The coal scuttle was a de-facto bin, anything that accumulated in there during the day went on the fire. This would also include the newspaper, which would be scrunched up to make a bed for the fire to be lit with.
It was perfectly reasonable to put things like vegetable peelings on the fire too. They might sizzle but they would still be gone.
Milk came in glass bottles that were washed out and collected by the milk man, very few other bottles were used, certainly no sugar drinks in aluminium cans. Tea ruled in England until relatively recently.
There was also the compost heap. So organic matter would go on there, not out of save the world principle, it was just the done thing. You would obviously eat everything you were given so it wasn't as if there were table scraps in the bin.
I don't believe consumers demanded more and more elaborate packaging. Since forever people have complained about excess packaging. It is actually all about cost. Take for example the recycled 'deposit paid' bottles of yesteryear. The glass was quite thick and they weighed quite a bit. Today glass is different, very thin, lightweight and hence cheaper to distribute. I would argue that packaging has became less elaborate - quality bottles of yesteryear have gone, as have proper biscuit tins to take two examples.
So, the dustbin, it wasn't random dust, it was whatever was left over from the fireplace, mostly ash from coal. Britain was an island of coal in a sea of fish in previous times.