Home Secretary Theresa May officially launches her campaign to become prime minister at Austin Court in Birmingham. Chris Radburn/Press Association. All rights reserved.
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language – so the argument runs – must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism …
These are not my words. George Orwell wrote them in his famous 1946 essay ‘Politics and the English Language’. Orwell thought that language was being used in a slovenly way because it was used to express ill-thought out ideas. And, ill-thought out ideas are a result of the tolerance of slovenly language. There is a vicious cycle: slovenly language produces slovenly thought and slovenly thought uses slovenly language. When the correct use of language ceases to matter, then thought ceases to matter.
