Clear and Simple
Narrator:
“Due to the fact that prolixity (a veritable elysium for mendacious circumlocution) tends to obfuscate and indemnify rather than elucidate, its interdiction is, ipso facto, of cardinal consequence.”
Did you have a hard time understanding what this sentence is saying? When writing is wordy or unclear, your main ideas get lost. Long winded phrases like, “due to the fact that”, obscure references, and unfamiliar vocabulary confuse and frustrate your reader. And if you lose your reader, all of your writing is for nothing.
There, that’s better. This sentence has pretty much the same main idea as the more confusing one, but it’s much easier to understand.
George Orwell, the great novelist and social critic, took this issue very seriously. He believed that confusing language was not just bad writing, but a way for politicians to hide their crimes. He worried that powerful leaders were writing unclear statements on purpose, hoping that people wouldn’t understand what they were really up to. To fight against this, he urged everyone to use the most clear and direct words possible.
Question
What is dangerous--and not just annoying--about language that is deliberately difficult?
