...then you would be well advised to spend them reading George Orwell's magnificent 'Politics and the English Language', 61 years old this year, yet still with more to teach us then any amount of copywriting books.
If you've never read it, read, print and read again every week.
If you've read it long since, then treat yourself to a reread.
I read the first paragraph of the paper at the end of your link and was gearing up to argue with it. with a degree in linguistics, i was quite ready to push Orwell against the wall and tell him that 'there's no such thing as bad english' and that trying to protect English from change or 'deterioration' was a useless as trying to lash the wind (or whatever it was Johnson wrote in the intro to his dictionary).
but he's right, in almost everything he says here. i felt myself becoming a stronger writer just by reading it. it's powerful. thanks for posting it (i can't believe i'd never come across it before; i've never even heard anyone talking about it!). extracts from it are now pinned on the notice board next to my pc. hussar!
JY
ps, i can't beleive i said 'gearing up' at the start of this message after reading that paper.
Posted by: John Yossarian | Sunday, 06 April 2008 at 12:00 AM