Obama used the term fundamental transformation when talking about what his Presidency would do to America..... Funny that George Orwell had some thoughts about very similar terminology: The debased language that I have been discussing is in some ways very convenient. Phrases like a not unjustifiable assumption, leaves much to be desired, would serve no good purpose, a consideration which we should do well to bear in mind, are a continuous temptation, a packet of aspirins always at ones elbow. Look back through this essay, and for certain you will find that I have again and again committed the very faults I am protesting against. By this mornings post I have received a pamphlet dealing with conditions in Germany. The author tells me that he felt impelled to write it. I open it at random, and here is almost the first sentence I see: [The Allies] have an opportunity not only of achieving a radical transformation of Germanys social and political structure in such a way as to avoid a nationalistic reaction in Germany itself, but at the same time of laying the foundations of a co-operative and unified Europe. You see, he feels impelled to write -- feels, presumably, 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 invasion of ones mind by ready-made phrases (lay the foundations, achieve a radical transformation) can only be prevented if one is constantly on guard against them, and every such phrase anaesthetizes a portion of ones brain.”
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 11:32:13 +0000
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