In John Kay’s recent article on Václav Havel, I was reminded of George Orwell’s Politics and the English Language
The appropriate noises are coming out of his larynx, but his brain is not involved as it would be if he were choosing his words for himself.
An apt description of phrases such as:
- moving forward
- we can do this when we say yes
- Labor says yes to Australia’s future
- here we acknowledge Australia’s first people, we acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet
- There will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead
- Let’s get Australia back on track
- It begins with us
- Yes we can
- Incentivise is the one that does it for me
What are your choices for senseless slogans? Perhaps we should all read Modern Manglish (see also Scruby’s article in the Australian).
In 1946 Orwell wrote these words – as true today as in his time
This mixture of vagueness and sheer incompetence is the most marked characteristic of modern English prose, and especially of any kind of political writing … prose consists less and less of words chosen for the sake of their meaning, and more and more of phrases tacked together like the sections of a prefabricated henhouse.
Working families.
ar
22 Dec 11 at 6:19 pm
carbon pollution
push factors
because we are us
clean energy future
jupes
22 Dec 11 at 6:19 pm
Sorry.
ar
22 Dec 11 at 6:20 pm
Plant food
AndrewL
22 Dec 11 at 6:38 pm
pro-active
marriage equality
forward estimates
climate change
social/ sexual/ liberal democracy
dover_beach
22 Dec 11 at 6:39 pm
reform
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 6:40 pm
I need a bucket.
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 6:41 pm
Yeah, plants don’t thrive on CO2. The science is in.
Oh, that’s another one…
ar
22 Dec 11 at 6:56 pm
What about the lifestyle of the trade union official?
Rafe
22 Dec 11 at 7:01 pm
Something for us little folk to aspire to, Rafe. Think of all the rewards.
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 7:03 pm
Sustainable energies
Abu Chowdah
22 Dec 11 at 7:07 pm
Social justice
Social inclusion
Art Vandelay
22 Dec 11 at 7:10 pm
forward thinking
dover_beach
22 Dec 11 at 7:10 pm
Fiscal conservative
Programmatic specificity
Anything containing the word ‘paradigm’
Relentless negativity
Hyper bowl
In the interests of balance :
Stand up for real action
Great big new tax (even if true)
Papachango
22 Dec 11 at 7:12 pm
Fibre is futureproof
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 7:13 pm
sunshine is the best disinfectant
draw back the curtains and let the sunshine in
transparency
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 7:14 pm
If true, why don’t surgeons operate outside?
Samuel J
22 Dec 11 at 7:28 pm
Zones of intervention, coalitions of volunteers and my personal favourite…socialising…as in “Introducing best practice for socialising HR initiatives across the organisation”.
Megan
22 Dec 11 at 7:29 pm
They will be soon enough, Samuel when there’s no electricity generated because,…well you know why.
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 7:31 pm
Gab – when that time arrives, we won’t need written language. What’s wrong with the oral traditions of the dark ages when we are all living ‘close to nature’? Language requires civilisation – Bob Brown’s vision is for a world without civilisation. A world free of poverty, because everyone lives in poverty.
Samuel J
22 Dec 11 at 7:47 pm
Taliband
High Dungeon
Anything albosleazy has said
Carpe Jugulum
22 Dec 11 at 7:55 pm
Just for the record -so to speak:
Surgeons want a sterile operating conditions.
Airborne particles are one big risk to a sterile wound.
Surgeons in first world countries oprerate in positively pressurised filtered air theatre
For an infected wound, they open it and leave it open, debride it, disinfect it and provide free drainage.
That would equally as well done in an open environment.
Except the unproductive intelligentsia birkenstock’d leadership class who will be deeply concerned for the poor.
ie the green neo-nomenklatura
JamesK
22 Dec 11 at 8:00 pm
interface
in yer face
Viva
22 Dec 11 at 8:13 pm
I really hate “inform the debate”
entropy
22 Dec 11 at 8:27 pm
“settled science”
‘Carbon’ crate blandchick excepted, of course.
Rabz
22 Dec 11 at 8:32 pm
You know what I hate? What I really really hate?
“Can I just say…”
I don’t understand this pretend permission to speak dance that both Gillard sand Swan do.
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 8:41 pm
No, you morons.
Rabz
22 Dec 11 at 8:42 pm
Having a ‘conversation’
Biota
22 Dec 11 at 8:51 pm
The ultimate putdown for a politician by a politician-
they’re just being political
Biota
22 Dec 11 at 8:53 pm
Is that the same Harold Scruby as the one from the Ausflag Campaign and the ‘Pedestrian Council of Australia’? If so try asking him for details of the membership, numbers etc for the organisations. I did once, he threatened to sue for asking.
sfw
22 Dec 11 at 9:08 pm
We will deliver a surplus in 2012-13.
Putting a price on carbon.
Facing the confidence with future.
http://www.youtu.be/watch?v=Nu1HOn4CejY
Rabz
22 Dec 11 at 9:14 pm
Soft energy.
Winston Smith
22 Dec 11 at 9:21 pm
Multiculturalism
Abu Chowdah
22 Dec 11 at 9:26 pm
Walking vuvuzela
Because we are us
If you have a choice, don’t be in it
Skuter
22 Dec 11 at 9:32 pm
Chew and walk gum
Skuter
22 Dec 11 at 9:32 pm
Chew and walk gum
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 9:34 pm
snap!
Gab
22 Dec 11 at 9:35 pm
“Shit storm”
“Don’t write crap”
“Shit happens”
jumpnmcar
22 Dec 11 at 9:51 pm
We are 99%
Soak the rich
Equality and fairness
Spread the wealth
big dumb fu
22 Dec 11 at 10:11 pm
The dismissive laugh
Biota
22 Dec 11 at 10:21 pm
The honorable, the prime minister
Biota
22 Dec 11 at 10:23 pm
Mr Rabbit and his relentless negativity
Informed by labor values
Reform in the great labor tradition
I reject the premise of your question
Skuter
22 Dec 11 at 10:58 pm
Mr Rudd and I are working together in the national interest
Skuter
22 Dec 11 at 11:00 pm
Celebrate diversity
Frank
22 Dec 11 at 11:16 pm
The Australian people deserve more from their opposition.
jumpnmcar
22 Dec 11 at 11:46 pm
ha ha I just went to see MI – Ghost Protocol.
The arms dealer called himself an ‘independent defence professional’
Sean
22 Dec 11 at 11:47 pm
It’s not “moving forward”. It’s moiving ford.
JC
22 Dec 11 at 11:51 pm
I thought it was the Comrade Blundering Bogan’s best friend – Mervyn Ford.
Megan
22 Dec 11 at 11:59 pm
lol Of course, she’s really saying Mervyn Ford. hahahahahaha
JC
23 Dec 11 at 12:02 am
There are also glorious political understatements. For example Hirohito, 15 August 1945 ‘.. the war situation has developed not necessarily to Japan’s advantage..’
Lazlo
23 Dec 11 at 12:19 am
Forcing people to have health insurance is “conservative,” says Mitt Romney.
The Hill:
Romney doubles down on argument that state health mandate is ‘conservative’.
C.L.
23 Dec 11 at 12:30 am
“Decisive action”
“We have always said”
“Storms are gathering” – when Swan talks about the ECONOMY for Chrissake
thumbnail
23 Dec 11 at 6:28 am
In terms of
I mean
Yer know
HRT
23 Dec 11 at 7:14 am
Certainty.
ar
23 Dec 11 at 7:43 am
Obama on the tube just said, “This is why people get so frustrated with Washington”.
ar
23 Dec 11 at 7:45 am
Soft diplomacy.
Ubique of Perth
23 Dec 11 at 8:25 am
“We are us.”
Alex Robson
23 Dec 11 at 9:12 am
We need to get the balance right.
We have the policies and programs in place.
Pickles
23 Dec 11 at 10:37 am
Best (or worst) experience of this kind is sitting in a Contemporary European Theory lecture at any of our major Universities. Whether it’s cultural studies or philosophy, what you get is a stream of packaged phrases that are impossible to paraphrase because they are devoid of content.
Want to get a permanent lecturing position? Just string together empty phrases from famous French, Italian and German ‘thinkers’ and bask in the glow of their trendiness.
By comparison politico-speak is positively Shakespearean.
Jasbo
23 Dec 11 at 10:52 am
Work/life balance.
jumpnmcar
23 Dec 11 at 11:45 am
Kevin’s favorite: “and do y’know what .. “
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
23 Dec 11 at 5:33 pm
The post-modern usage of ‘interrogate’
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.
23 Dec 11 at 5:37 pm
“”"Kevin’s favorite: “and do y’know what .. “”"”
And asking his own questions, starting with ” On the question of ….”
And answering in seven parts.
jumpnmcar
23 Dec 11 at 6:56 pm
Okay, these aren’t slogans but I cringe when I hear the following:
‘outcomes’
‘vibrant’
‘inappropriate’
‘social justice’
‘kinetic’
‘green…’ (anything)
Sea Wolf
24 Dec 11 at 11:28 am