Newspeak
From Wikinfo
Newspeak is a fictional language in George Orwell's famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Orwell included an essay about it in the form of an Appendix after the end of the novel, in which the basic principles of the language are explained. Newspeak is closely based on English but has a greatly reduced and simplified vocabulary and grammar; this suited the totalitarian regime of The Party, whose aim was to make subversive thought ("thoughtcrime") and speech impossible.
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Basic Principles of Newspeak
The basic idea behind Newspeak was to remove all shades of meaning from language, leaving simple dichotomies (pleasure and pain, happiness and sadness, good thoughts and thoughtcrimes). A staccato rhythm of short syllables was also a goal, further reducing the need for deep thinking about language. (See: duckspeak)
In addition, words with opposite meanings were removed as redundant, so "bad" became "ungood" and "great" became "doubleplusgood"; and as many words as possible were removed. The ultimate aim of Newspeak was to reduce even the dichotomies to a single word that was a "yes" of some sort: an obedient word with which everyone answered affirmatively to what was asked of them.
The underlying theory of Newspeak is that if something can't be said, then it can't be thought, either. One question raised by this is whether we are defined by our language, or whether we actively define it; can we communicate the need for freedom, can we organize an uprising, if we don't have the words for either?
Examples of Newspeak, from the novel, include: "crimethink"; "doubleplusungood"; and "Ingsoc". They mean, in turn: "thought-crime"; "extremely bad"; and "English Socialism", the political philosophy of The Party. The word "Newspeak" itself also comes from the language.
Real-Life Examples of Newspeak
A comparison to Newspeak can be seen in political rhetoric, where two opposing sides string together phrases so empty of meaning that they may be compared to the taunts young children toss back and forth. The arguments of either side ultimately reduce to "I'm good; he's bad."
Charges of Newspeak are sometimes advanced when a group tries to replace a word/phrase that is politically incorrect (e.g. "civilian casualties") or offensive (e.g. "murder") with a politically correct or inoffensive one (e.g. "collateral damage"). Some maintain that to make certain words or phrases 'unspeakable' (thoughtcrime), restricts what ideas may be held (Newspeak). Others believe that expunging terms that have fallen out of favour or become insulting will make people less likely to hold outdated or offensive views. The differences between these two points of view is primarily a matter of perspective.
Either way, there is a resemblance between political correctness and Newspeak, although some may feel that they differ in their intentions: in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Newspeak is instituted to enhance the power of the state over the individual; politically correct language, on the other hand, is said to "free individuals from preconceptions due to the use of certain terms". It is this attempt to change thought through changing (or eliminating) words that earns political correctness the connection to Newspeak.
Wikipedia "speak"
Wikipedia editors use a system of abbreviations which could also be considered similar to Newspeak compounds, though mostly only written, not spoken. Also, some common internet terminology is twisted in meaning in the same way Newspeak words were "removed" or "stripped" of their connotations.[1]
- Cruft - Someone putting in too much detail before someone else gets to. Used as a suffix, e.g. fancruft.
- NN stands for non-notable
- NPOV stands for Neutral Point of view
- POV standing for Point of View. "That's POV" means I don't agree with the viewpoint, especially if a "Cabal" member says it.
- Prod is short for "proposed deletion."
- Speedy deletion - To delete a page without prior discussion.
- Trolling - Repeatedly posting disagreement with wikipedia administators with the perceived intent of trying to disrupt wikipedia.
- WP:AGF stands for 'assume good faith' often used by the cabal to ensure that even if they are clearly acting in bad faith (at least from a non-wikipedia perspective), you have to pretend they are acting in good faith.
- WP:AUTO that makes it difficult to write an autobiography or correct one's own biography. If one is the subject of a wikipedia article and e.g. it is highly inaccurate and you correct it, using your real name or from an IP address that can be traced to you, someone will revert it with an edit summary like "rv per WP:AUTO" and then tell them that that if anyone else writes about them they may not correct it.
- WP:BEANS stands for "Don't stuff beans up your nose," which is based on the belief that refraining from discussing them will make them disappear.
- WP:NOT denotes the number one official policy on wikipedia, "what wikipedia is not" often used as criterion for deleting an article, or as an excuse to claim that racism and other prejudist inicivilty is okay.
- WP:OFFICE is a policy originally introduced by Jimmy Wales to empower wikimedia officials. Edits and administative actions made under this policy are described as 'officing.' Example: "This page has been officed"
- WP:V is a policy that requires content to be verifiable, under the assumption that verifiable claims are more likely to be true statements.
- WP:IAR stands for 'Ignore all rules,' which is an "official policy" on wikipedia that to an outsider may seem to contradict with every policy and guideline but in fact refers to non-compiances of the exact wording of policies and guidelines which are considered acceptable by the cabal.
- Disruption is often used to denotes edits (and comments) that the Cabal disagrees with so that they can regard it as a serious offense while making the regulations seem normal to non-wikipedians.
- WP:AGF stands for "assume good faith." It basically means assume good faith in absense of evidence to contrary but in practice is often used by trolls and middle schoolars to mean something like "I know I have nothing but bad faith edits and you know I am an obvious troll but the rules say that you have to pretend that all my posts are in good faith with no policy violations."
See Also
Further Reading
- The Appendix of Nineteen Eighty-Four deals with Newspeak.
References
- Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "Newspeak" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newspeak, used under the GNU Free Documentation License
