“wordfuck” n.
Definition: the use
of a word to cause confusion rather than clarity.
A recent flagrant example:
Obama's use of the word "imminent"
Orwell was all over this, but the use of "Orwellian" has itself been wordfucked by having its use vague, which is convenient for the user. Better to read his own words:
"But if
thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
***
"What is above all needed is
to let the meaning choose the word, and not the other way about. In prose, the
worst thing one can do with words is to surrender them. When you think of a
concrete object, you think wordlessly, and then, if you want to describe the
thing you have been visualizing, you probably hunt about till you find the
exact words that seem to fit it. When you think of something abstract you are
more inclined to use words from the start, and unless you make a conscious
effort to prevent it, the existing dialect will come rushing in and do the job
for you, at the expense of blurring or even changing your meaning. Probably it
is better to put off using words as long as possible and get one’s meaning as
clear as one can through pictures or sensations. Afterwards one can choose —
not simply ACCEPT— the phrases that will best cover the meaning, and then
switch round and decide what impressions one’s words are likely to make on
another person. This last effort of the mind cuts out all stale or mixed
images, all prefabricated phrases, needless repetitions, and humbug and
vagueness generally. But one can often be in doubt about the effect of a word
or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails. I
think the following rules will cover most cases:
(i) Never use a metaphor,
simile or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
(ii) Never use a long word
where a short one will do.
(iii) If it is possible to
cut a word out, always cut it out.
(iv) Never use the passive
where you can use the active.
(v) Never use a foreign
phrase, a scientific word or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday
English equivalent.
(vi) Break any of
these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous."
***
