Thursday, May 08, 2008

365 New Words a Year [Merriam Webster] (Workman Publishing 9/6/7: newspeak

newspeak n : propagandistic language marked by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary meanings
The DYK states that "the term 'newspeak' was coined by George Orwell in his 1949 anti-utopian [ed. distopian] novel 1984. In Orwell's fictional totalitarian state, Newspeak was a language favored by the minions of Big Brother and, in Orwell's words, 'designed to diminish the range of thought.' It was characterized by the elimination or alteration of certain words, the substitution of one word for another, the interchangeability of parts of speech, and the creation of words for political purposes. The word itself has caught on in general use to refer to confusing or deceptive bureaucratic jargon." Rating 8/10 big brothers.
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A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood. --Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-Reliance"