Written In The Sand

Written in the Sand Podcast Episode 17 They May Take Our Lives, But They'll Never Take Our Conformity Are You One of Us? We call them catchphrases, clichés, inside jokes, slogans, battle cries, and George Orwell thought of them as sloppy language. In his essay, “Politics and the English language” he talked about how these phrases become removed from any recognizable meaning and become shortcuts for thinking. Even worse, these phrases can be retrofitted for political goals, selling unfamiliar ideas with familiar words. Some phrases become so obscure that we no longer use some of the words let alone know their definitions, but we can often recognize their intent. They become phrases that we understand without having to ponder what the actual words mean. George Orwell was not a fan. He felt that this sloppy language lead to sloppy thinking, and I agree with him up to a point. Some of those words may have meanings you are only vaguely aware of, you just kind of understand them by how they are used. One of the