gist/gists/how-to-write-george-orwell-2025-01-20.md

Rules of writing according to George Orwell (my quick interpretation and noting based on it to apply in my own writings)

George Orwell said in his essay "Politics and the English Language":

• Never use a metaphor, simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
• Never use a long word where a short one will do.
• If it is possible to cut a word out, cut it out.
• Never use the passive voice where you can use the active.
• Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
• Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

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1. Dying metaphors: Avoid using metaphors that are dying out or ones that are overused, almost as if they are losing their status as a metaphor. Instead, opt for newer, fresher, more vivid and original metaphors that paint a more solid picture of what you are trying to convey, over adding meaningless padding to what you might try to say.
   • For example, "brand new" used invoke an image of something just forged in a fire in the past. This, nowadays, is a nonmetaphor that's lost its original imagery and just sounds like ordinary words.
     • "Stand shoulder to shoulder with" is also bland and unoriginal, plain, boring.
     • "Toe the line" - boring, plain, overused, stale, image is lost. Dead metaphor.
     • Modern examples: "a rule of thumb", "skating on thin ice".
   • Dead metaphors are used because they save people the trouble of inventing phrases for themselves.
   • Must avoid gumming words together for the sake of doing so. Think about the meaning of the words and choose them wisely.
   • Stop using metaphors that have been strung together by someone else. Be original.
   • They are fine to use, because they function like ordinary words, however, as metaphors they suck and aren't interesting :(
2. Operators or verbal false limbs: KISS. Stop overcomplicating things and making things longer than they have to be. There's no need to turn a verb into a whole lengthy phrase when it's unnecessary to do so and brings no value to the core meaning, messaging, and style of the text.
   • Just use "break" over "render Inoperative".
   • Just use "fight" over "militate against".
   • Other common false verbal limbs: "be subjected to", "play a leading part in", "exhibit a tendency to"
   • False verbal limbs might sound sophisticated, but they inhibit clarity and obfuscate the message, making it harder to understand.
   • Just use one word instead of many whenever we can, although, this can be get stale.
     • However, it is important to note that using more sophisticated, longer phrases can improve the reader experience and may not inhibit the clarity of the text, depending on the context and style. Use style when applicable, but ensure clarity is not impeded.
   • Passive is stale, boring, and generic. Use active speaking and don't be scared to state your own position.
     • The difference of "I have made a mistake" (active) over "mistakes were made" (passive) - obsession with political populism is indicative of being scared to state something in the active. Use the active when you can.
     • Note that the passive voice is also a useful thing, and you should use it where applicable if it improves clarity, style, experience, or adds reasonable extra net value to the text.
     • Don't avoid the passive if it's a net positive, however, don't overuse it. Overusing the passive makes the speech sound detached and impersonal, hindering clarity, messaging, and purpose of the proposed ideas, philosophy, truths, and other included things.
   • Avoid using the double-negative if it does not add true value to the text. That is, "not uncommonly" should be avoided and you should use "commonly" to avoid confusion, unless it truly adds value to the ideas, style, or speech.
     • For instance, "The claims are founded" should be preferred over "the claims are not unfounded".
   • Don't stick to plain structures that were imposed onto you that sound boring and are overused.
3. Pretentious diction: Avoid being vague, don't be tasteless, avoid being pretentious.
   • Try not to be pretentious, tasteless, hypocritical, stupid.
   • Don't use words falsely or wrongly.
     • Use words where appropriate. Don't dress up simple phrases in words like "objectively", "categorically", "effectively", "virtually", "liquidate", "exploit", ... To give readers a false sense of scientific impartiality, which can lead to biassed judgements from the readers.
       • If something is not truly objective, then don't use "objectively" and so on.
     • Don't state things such as "follow the science" when it's not applicable or you are not applying scientific methods.
     • Don't create a false facade which can foster room for misinterpretation in a context you may be impartially hinting to.
   • By being pretentious, you hint at wanting to be misunderstood and have your text judged on a biassed basis.
   • Hyperbole is powerful. Avoid bold statements like "inevitable", "historical", "pivotal", "unprecedented", unless it is true. Oftentimes, phrases like inevitable are only used for putting makeup on a simple phrase, when it's not true and could have been easily avoided. Unless it is truly true - avoid extremes without submitting to true neutrality and "politician speech".
   • Don't refer to events or things as an intervention or something that it is not. For example, events like war are oftentimes products of conflict rather than a passive intervention or invasion, so state it like that. Don't go around corners to cover something in sugar when it doesn't have to be and just impedes clarity.
   • Avoid using other languages where English (or the original language of the text) will do just fine. Phrases like that can be replaced with English equivalents easily, improving the clarity of the text.
     • Note that this is also a form of expression. If using a different language will result in a rational net positive, use a different language. Other than that, KISS.
     • If a foreign word of phrase is used just for the sole fact of sounding fancy and scientific, then don't use it, when there's a perfectly good commonly used alternative in the native language. It's just annoying.
   • Avoid vagueness. Embrace expression and clarity.
4. Meaningless words: Avoid words or concepts that have no concrete or clear meaning, and can be reinterpreted from many different angles, unless you are talking about the abstract concept exactly.
   • Don't use meaningless words. Duh.
   • Avoid words that have multiple meanings.
   • Avoid words with abstract meanings that depend on the listener, unless it is meant to be abstract.
   • Make educated decisions about what words you use where. What did you intend for the words to mean?
   • For example, the word "Fascism" nowadays almost has no concrete meaning, usually only used as a phrase to describe something undesirable. Be concrete in what you mean when it is exact. Don't be vague, be exact.
     • Same for other concepts that involve abstract thinking. Concepts like democracy, socialism, freedom, patriotic, realistic, justice have several meanings and can depend on the reader's interpretation. Prefer more clear, more exact language to define what you mean, unless you are specifically referring to the abstract concept of whatever you are referring to.
     • In case of the word "democracy", not only is there no agreed upon definition, but the attempt to make one is restricted from all sides. Defenders of all kinds of regimes claim that their regime is democracy, even one's found in authoritarian regimes. Be powerful and smart in your words, so everyone, even ones without an ability to understand that abstract concept, could understand what you are trying to convey.
   • Many people use this to their advantage in a dishonest way to mislead with their words because of the abstract definition of those words. We must avoid this to alleviate censorship, misinterpretation, mis/disinformation, and other forms of miscommunication and (in)deliberate dishonesty. Be honest, be true, and be concrete.
     • One can use these abstract terms to claim that "they meant what they said" because of how abstract the terms are but that they know are misleading.
     • E.g. "The Catholic Church is opposed to persecution" - sure, but what does "persecution" mean? Keep the language exact, not abstract. Be a good writer who expresses their ideas clearly.
     • E.g.2: "I, as a politician, will never do any harm to the country" - what does "harm" mean? The argument is "is something they're doing truly harmful?" define all words to use within the text by encoding their meaning in the context and the text itself.
   • If words are not strictly defined, they are, in a sense, meaningless. Avoid these words, because they have no unified and commonly agreed upon definition.
   • Unless we specify what we are talking about, the writing is useless, and what we are saying is meaningless.