Politics and the English Language (1946)

> As I have tried to show, modern writing at its worst does not consist in picking out words for the sake of their meaning and inventing images in order to make the meaning clearer. It consists in gumming together long strips of words which have already been set in order by someone else, and making the results presentable by sheer humbug.

I especially like how Orwell draws a contrived but all too true comparison between the following passages.

  I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. -- passage from Ecclesiastes

vs.

  Objective considerations of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account. -- modern translation

I could definitely imagine reading the latter in an op-ed.

How is this not just another 'thus of ould, thus now' (https://wellcomecollection.org/images?query=j8c3mm3x / https://fineartamerica.com/featured/2-womens-rights-1915-gra...) rant?

The chase, if you'll forgive the worn metaphor:

> But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I think the following rules will cover most cases:

    i. Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure 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 cut a word out, always cut it out.

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

    v. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

    vi. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

The writing that breaks down the busy writing samples here is quite busy. For good writing tips I always refer to the Elements of Style (1918). A succinct handbook on writing succinctly. Still relevant 100 years later.