Let’s start with dying metaphors. Tired, hackneyed images that have lost all evocative power, but are still commonly used. Not sure to what I refer? Well, let me cut through the red tape and kick-start the discussion so that you, the ordinary citizen, will understand. I would never play fast and loose with the facts or run roughshod over the working class.
A close examination of these descriptions is a study in ancient history. Red tape dates back to King Charles V of Spain. Roughshod dates to the early 1700s. The term, working class first became popular in the late eighteenth century. The term kick start is a relative newcomer, dating to before 1969, when motorcycle electric starters were first introduced. Old speech, nonetheless.
These (and many other such) cliches live on, ready to use when meaningful discussion proves too cumbersome. After all, most of these cliches have no accepted antonyms. They stand unchallenged. Can one play “slow and tight” with the facts? Is “kick stopping” possible? What is the opposite of “values?”
Often these dying metaphors include meaningless words, or words used in a dishonest way. In this latter category are words that a writer defines in one way but allows his/her reader to interpret quite differently. The word, natural is an example. A large food manufacturer will describe highly processed stevia as natural. Many others would not. Gourmet is another example. (I will refrain from mentioning meaningless, political words; Orwell does a better job describing these than I can.)
Lastly, to understand Orwell’s reference to pretentious language, one need only read a wine, coffee, restaurant, or beer review online. Advertisements for luxury goods will also serve the purpose.
Orwell offered writers six simple rules to improve their writing. Eighty years on, his rules seem quaint. Large language models have changed everything. Artificial Intelligence (AI) works to entrench, rather than eliminate lazy writing habits.
Sorry, Mr. Orwell, dying metaphors, meaningless words, and pretentious language are here to stay. One can’t fight city hall . . . or AI.
So, rather than risk more slips of the pen or, worse yet, writer’s cramp, I’ll just put down my quill now.
Peter has spent the past twenty-plus years as an acting/consulting CFO for a number of small businesses in a wide range of industries. Peter’s prior experience is that of a serial entrepreneur, managing various start-up and turnaround projects. He is a co-founder of Keurig.
