Lutz
198
Doubts About
DoublesPeak 199
Language & Politics
Defined: Cut Through the
Anymore (HarperCollins, 1996) and Doublesp eak
Theselectionsinthischapterdealwiththispoliticizationoflanguage.
of commerce and the language
to ask what this does forof iolitics have become eerily similar, urging us
citizen'
and in some ways, does to- us, the average
Together, they remind o, th"t
che language
essay origiand Getthe Point(Harpercollins, 1999). The following
nally appeared in State Government News in July 1993'
Bull..--
what you say?
ls it more important to say what you mean or to mean
Findingnothingredeemingabout..languagewhichpretendstocommuni-
Y/illlam Lutz' former
cate but do.r,r't," in "DoubtJ About Doublespeak"
professor' describes
cditor of the9!!arter$t Reuieu ofDoublespea'Q and English
jargon'
bureaucratese'
how the four main types of doublespeak-euphemism'
of reality' George Orwell's
and inflated language-challenge oo' pttttption
classic essay
"Politi.,
*r-rd the
f"tUtn L""go"gt"
is boch a scathing
criticism
of
of simple' direct
p..t.r-rtiom political prose and an illusuation of the value
as a symptom of
metaphor
of
use
i".g.r"g". orwellt .[i[ing insights on the
in "\(hy
reporting
s
Madrigal
careless thinki.g r..-, to f,ave pledict"d Alexis
discusses
Are Spy It r."r.h.., Buildint a 'Metaphor Program'?" Madrigal
ho,,
.olo."l
insights ."r, b.
developing a software Programthat
related to specific languages-and how those
gii'ltd from
,tor.,
interprets
^.,"phJ"
"r-rd
opinion'
used *, po*ttft'l weaPon to manipulate political
be
can
insig'hts
"
further
In ,,,Kinetic, connections," Neal \rhitman, a writer and blogger,..kinetic,,
if the word
explores orwellian uses of language, explaining that
soundsfamiliaritisbecauseitspersiscentarrdeuphemisticusebythe
ever so popular' Finally' the cognitive
How the Language
scientist Julie Sed'ivy's 'Are You a Mac or a Mac User?
our sense of self is
how
of
reminder
is a sobering
American government has made
of ld.,rtiy
Persuades"
shaped by the language of
it
commt"t-"ld
skiillully *anipulated by advertisers as well
how that
as
sense
of self can be
politicians'
*!r*ra,atl*-i (t ?urcb *oz lL,lA/fi"l"2
j
Ea
6i+^'Dr.uB<,c...,!
,
ttt<r,c
.i
!{,*
eoll
tl ' /ress
OxPrJ
Witliam Lutz
Doubts About Doublespeak
for Distinguished conw1ii3n. Lutz received the 1996 George Orwell Award
the National Council
tribution to Honesty and Clarity in Public Language from
a lawyer' served as
professor
and
English
of Teachers of English. Lutz, an
years' His books
many
for
the editor of the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak
what Anyone's saying
include The IVew Doublespeak: why No one Knows
F\urins the Das[ year, we learned that we can shop at a "uniqueretail biolJrpn."*" l,-tr,.ri of a farmers' market, where we can buy items made of
"ry.rth.ti.
por.
"high velocity' multiFurglass" instead of plastic, or purchase a
o..l..t.i. fan' A "waste-water conveyance facility" may
"i..i.Iul"tor,"
l.r...d
rhe odor threshold"
"regufrom time to time due to the presence of
lated human nutrients," but that is not to be confused
with a sewage plant that stinks up the neighborhood
"rewith sewage sludge. Nor should we confuse a
does
Thus
dump'
source develoPment park" with a
doublespeak continue to sPread'
Doublespeak is language which pretends to comthe
municate b.rt do.rr-r't' lt is language which makes
unpleasthe
positive,
bad seem good, the negacive seem
anr seem artractive, or at least tolerable.
It
is lar-rguage which avoids, shifts,
its real or puror denies responsibility; Ianguage which is at variance with
thought'
ported -""r-rirrg. It is language which conceals or prevents
packages at the
our
check
to
asked
are
,.o".rrrJo,. \7e
Doublespeaf, i,
"ll
..for
at all but for
convenience
our convenience" when it's not for our
desk
"expe"preowned,"
convenience. We see advertisements for
someone else's
"genuine
distinguished" cars, not used cars and for
Television
imitation I."ih.r," "virgin vinyl," or "real counterfeit diamonds."
just
or
ghettos,
slums
no
offers not reruns but "encore telecasts." There are
"disadvantaged"
or
,.inner
"subsrandard housing" where the
rienced,,, or
the
,,previously
city" or
,.economically nonaffiuent" live and where there rnight be a problem with
"substance abuse." Nonprofit organizations don't make a profit' they have
doublespeak it's
negative deficits" or experience "revenue excesses." vith
not dying but "terminal living" or "negative patient care outcome'
four kinds of doublespeak' The first kind is che euphemism'
Th.rJ"..
a
Used to
word or phrase designed to avoid a harsh or distasteful reality.
U'S'
the
1984
In
r., the euphemism becomes doublespeak'
mislead
o.i...i
2OO
Lutz
Language & Politics
State Department's annual reports on the status of human rights around
the world ceased using the word "killing." Instead the State Department
used the phrase "unlawful or arbitrary deprivation of life," thus avoiding
rhe embarrassing situation of government-sancrioned killing in countries
supported by the United States.
A second kind ofdoublespeak is jargon, the specialized language ofa
trade, profession, or similar group, such as doctors, Iawyers, plumbers, or
car mechanics. Legitimately used, jargon allows members of a grouP to
communicate with each other clearly, eficiently, and quickly' Lawyers
and tax accountants speak to each other of an "involuntary conversion"
of property, a legal term that means the loss or destruction of property
through theft, accident, or condemnation. But when lawyers or tax accountants use unfamiliar terms to speak to others, then the jargon becomes doublespeak.
In
1978 a commercial 727 crashed on takeoff
killing three
passengers,
injuring 2l others and destroying the airplane. The insured value of the
airplane was greater than its book value, so the airline made a profit of
$1.7 million, creating two problems: the airline didn't want to talk about
one of its airplanes crashing, yet it had to account for that $1.7 million
profit in its annual report to its stock-holders. The airline solved both problems by inserting a footnote in its annual report which explained that the
$1.7
million
was due to "the involuntary conversion of a727."
is gobbledygook or bureaucratese. Such
the audience with wordsoverwhelming
doublespeak is simply a matter of
A rhird kind of doublespeak
the more the better. Alan Greenspan, a polished Practitioner of bureaucratese, once testified before a Senate committee that "it is a tricky problem to
find the particular calibration in timing that would be appropriate to stem
the acceleration in risk premiums created by falling incomes without pre-
maturely aborting the decline in the infation-generated risk premiums."
The fourth kind of doublespeak is infated language, which is designed
to make the ordinary seem extraordinary, to make everyday things seem
impressive, to give an air of importance to people or situations, to make the
simple seem complex. Thus do car mechanics become "automotive internists," elevator operators become "members of the vertical transportation
corps," grocery store checkout clerks become "career associate scanning
professionals," and smelling something becomes "organoleptic analysis."
Doublespeak is not the product of careless language or sloppy thinking.
Quite the opposite. Doublespeak is language carefully designed and
Doubts About
DoublesPeak
2OL
constructed to appear to communicate when in fact it doesn't. It is language designed not to lead but mislead. Thus, it's not a tax increase but
"revenue enhancement" or "tax-base broadening." So how can you complain about higher taxes? Those aren't useless, billlon dollar pork barrel
projects; they're really "congressional projects ofnational significance," so
don't complain about wasteful government spending. That isn't the Mafia
in Atlantic City; those are just "members of a career-offender cartel," so
don't worry about the infuence of organized crime in the city. r
New doublespeak is created every day. The Environmental Protection
Agency once called acid rain "poorly-buffered precipitation" then dropped
that term in favor of "atmospheric deposition of anthropogenicallyderived acidic substances," but recently decided that acid rain should be
called "wet deposition." The Pentagon, which has in the past given us such
classic doublespeak as "hexiform rotatable surface compression unit" for
sreel nut, just published a pamphlet warning soldiers that exposure to
nerve gas will lead
almost
as
to
"immediate permanent incaPacitation." That's
good as the Pentagon's official term "servicing the target," meaning
kill the enemy. Meanwhile, the Department of Energywants to establish
a "monitored retrievable storage site," a place once known as a dump for
to
spent nuclear fuel.
Bad economic times give rise to lots of new doublespeak designed to avoid
some very unpleasant economic realities. As the "contained depression" continues so does the corporate policy ofmaking up even more new terms to avoid
the simple, and easily understandable, term "layoff." So it is that corPorations
"reposition," "restructure," "reshape," or "realign" the company and "reduce
duplication" through "release of resources" that involves a "Permanent downsizing" or a "payroll adjustment" that results in a number of employees being
" involuntarily terminated."
Other countries regularly contribute to doublespeak. In Japan, where
baldness is called "hair disadvantaged," the economy is undergoing a "severe
adjustment process," while in Canada there is an "involuntary downward
development" of the work force. For some government agencies in Canada,
wastepaper baskets have become "user friendly, space effective, fexible,
deskside sortation units." Politicians in Canada may engage in "realiry augmentation," but they never lie. As part of their new freedom, the people of
Moscow can visit "intimacy salons," or sex shops as they're known in other
countries. N7hen dealingwith the bureaucracy in Russia, people know that
they should show officials "normal gratitude," or give them a bribe.
l0
2O2
Orwell Politics and the English
Language & Politics
The worst doublespeak is the doublespeak of death.
It
is
the language, wrote
1946, that is "largely che defense of the indefensible . . .
truthful and murder respectable, and to give an
wind." In the doublespeak ofdeath, Orwell conto
pure
appearance of solidity
"defenseless
villages are bombatded from the air, the inhabitants driven
tinued,
George Orwell
in
designed to make lies sound
out into the country-side, the cattle machine-gunned, the huts set on fire with
incendiary bullets. This is called pacification. Millions of peasants are robbed
of their farms and sent trudging along the roads with no more than they can
carry. This is called transfer ofpopulation or rectification offrontiers." Today,
in a country once called Yugoslavia, this is called "ethnic cleansing."
It's easy to laugh offdoublespeak. After all, we all know what's going on,
so what's the harm? But we don't always know what's going on, and when
that happens, doublespeak accomplishes its ends. It alters our PercePtion of
realiry. It deprives us of the tools we need to develop, advance, and pre serve
our society, our culture, our civilization. It breeds suspicion, cynicism, disrrust, and, ultimately, hostility. It delivers us into the hands of those who do
nor have our interests at heart. As SamuelJohnson noced in 18ch century
England, even the devils in hell do not lie to one another, since the society
of hell could not subsist without the truth, any more than any other society.
Cor-rsider the effect of "jargon" or "bureaucratese" on your day-to-dav
life. \i/here do you encounter these the most? \7rite a narrative essay in
which you provide examples of these types of doublespeak, how You
interpret them, and what it tells you about che society you live in.
Analyze
a speech by a politician, a document written by a university
3.
ofijcial, or an interview with a celebrity and examine the kind of doublespeak they use. Vhat efrect does their speech or writing; have on tl-re
inter-rded audience? Why?
George Orwell
Politics and the English Language
Best known for his allegorical novella Animal Farm (Secker and Warburg, 1945)
and his dystopian novel lVineteen Eighty-Four (Secker and Warburg, 1949),
George Orwell (1903-1950)was born Eric Arthur Blair in lndia and educated in
England. Blair adopted the pen name "George Orwell" in 1933, lust before he
published his first book, Down and Out in Paris and London. "Politics and the
English Language" was first published in London in 1946, at a time of great
Analyze
1. In defining "doublespeak," Lu;tz reveals a Particular way language
is
used to communicate. Analyze his definition and discuss how doublespcak [uncrions in society.
2. Lttzidencifies four type s of doublespeak. \Mith which ones of chese are
you most familiar? Provides some clear examples and explain their
PurPose.
3. Vhat is Lutz's position with regard to doublespeak? Do you agree with
this position? 1i7hy or why not? Examine and quote from specific parts
ofthe text
2.
Language
as
hardship and political turmoil following world war ll. ln his essay 0rwell criticizes the use of "ugly" language, noting two particular qualities of ugliness:
staleness of imagery and lack of precision. ln the end, he advocates plain
speech, noting that language should be used as an "instrument of expression"
and not as an instrument for "concealing or preventing thought"-a concern to
which he gave infamously chilling expression in lVineteen Eighty'Four and the
"doublethink" of its imaginary, yet hauntingly familiar, totalitarian regime.
How does the language of certain characters in dystopian literature and
films, such as The Hunger Games series, reflect their manipulative or
you respond.
even sinister motivations?
Explore
1. Although Lutz states that doublespeak
is "language
carefully designed
not to lead but to mislead," do you think thac it can ever be a useful
means of communication? Think of a time when you had to use some
form of doublespeak. \7hat was the situation and what was the effect
of the particular choices of rvords?
...
f, f, ost people who bother with the matter at ali would admic that the EnglVl rtrn' l"r-rg.r"g. is in a bacl way, but it is generally assumecl that
we canno! by conscious action do arrything abour it. Our civilization is deca-