a state of english

On a slow day at the office, I happened upon this essay by George Orwell. Apart from the general thrust of the piece which is the role of language in political writing, I was struck by how the opening paragraph sounded so 'current'. Hardly something that has come from the first half of the previous century.

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, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes.