From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Doublespeak (sometimes called doubletalk) is any language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words, resulting in a communication bypass. Doublespeak may take the form of euphemisms (e.g., "downsizing" for layoffs), intentional ambiguity, or the reversal of meaning (for example, calling war "peace", or maintaining the status quo "change").
[edit] History
The term doublespeak was coined in the 1950s.[citation needed] It is often attributed to George Orwell and his 1949 dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, although the term doublespeak is not actually used in the novel. Orwell did coin the terms newspeak, oldspeak, and doublethink, as well as other composite nouns with speak as the second element that were previously unknown in English. The term double talk (with a similar meaning) dates back to at least 1936.[1]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- Lutz, William. (1987). Doublespeak: From "Revenue Enhancement" to "Terminal Living": How Government, Business, Advertisers, and Others Use Language to Deceive You. New York: Harper & Row.
[edit] External links
