LINGUISTIC HYPNOSIS
(Posted 2008-08-19 14:32:26 by ArchPaladin)

I have just recently come back across George Orwell's essay "Politics and
the English Language" [ http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/orwell46.htm ]
[mtholyoke.edu] and I found it quite an entertaining read.  This is the
George Orwell essay where he takes a passage from the book of Ecclesiastes
and translates it into obtuse modern-day (1940s) jargon, which is
occasionally used as a ready example in English classes about the need for
simplicity, or by preachers to illustrate how the Bible can communicate
complex ideas to people possessing only grade-school literacy.

For myself, what I found interesting was to take his ideas and look at them
in light of our present inability to communicate meaningfully with each
other.  Anyone in our generation who has bothered to pay attention has
probably realized that most of us have only a couple of very close friends
among an abundance of acquaintances.  Most of our communication is
small-talk - shallow conversations about recent events or pastimes that we
feel comfortable enough to share in open company.  There is usually very
little personal investment in other people outside of a close few.

On the surface this may seem like it has very little to do with bad
English, but I would connect the two this way: emotional investment in
other people requires blunt, straightforward communication.  Orwell raised
the idea that obscure communication is a result of not thinking about what
you're saying, and that being obscure when you converse tends to breed this
behavior in others.  He was referring to the written word, but I think it
applies just as well to verbal dialogue.  This gets even more complicated
when you throw into the mix the subtlety of word definitions.  Since people
carry slightly different definitions for each word - even very common words
- it is no wonder that communicating with people is hard.  Language,
dialect, and cultural barriers also play a part.  Put all of this together,
and the reasons why people don't form a lot of close relationships seem
easier to understand.

I think that we understand this idea subconsciously.  But since we are
social creatures, we still need to reach out and communicate with others,
and it is better to communicate poorly versus not communicate at all. 
Thus, I think we have developed a strategy often used to communicate with
people radically different than us.  If we do not just avoid dealing with
them, we will speak obscurely (or at great length) to try and induce a mild
trance state with that individual to get them to agree with us.  You will
find this strategy in use with politicians (as Orwell states), but also
with incessant extroverts, self-important individuals, needy or dependent
people, and so forth.

--------

There are no comments on this post.