1989 C-SPAN Interview: William Lutz – "Doublespeak"

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2015-07-23に共有
2015 Ahamo Journalism Excellence Pick: Interview with William D. Lutz, an American linguist who specializes in the use of plain language and the avoidance of deceptive language known as Doublespeak.

The interview discusses his essay "The World of Doublespeak" as well as his book "Doublespeak". Both the original essay and the book describe the four different types of doublespeak and the social dangers: euphemism, jargon, gobbledygook, and inflated language.

William D. Lutz currently serves as the third chairman of the Doublespeak Committee and has since 1975. In 1989, both his book, "Doublespeak" and, under his editorship, the Doublespeak Committee's third book, "Beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four", were published.

Lutz is also the former editor of the Quarterly Review of Doublespeak. Although the review no longer exists, it examined different ways that Doublespeak polluted the public vocabulary with different phrases, words, as well as different usages of words that were designed to obscure the meaning of plain English.

The book, Beyond Nineteen Eighty-Four, consists of 220 pages and eighteen articles contributed by long-time Committee members and others whose body of work has made important contributions to understandings about language, as well as a bibliography of 103 sources on doublespeak.

Lutz is one of the main contributors to the committee as well as promoting the term "doublespeak" to a mass audience so as to inform them of the deceptive qualities that doublespeak contains. He mentions:

There is more to being an effective consumer of language than just expressing dismay at dangling modifiers, faulty subject and verb agreement, or questionable usage. All who use language should be concerned whether statements and facts agree, whether language is, in Orwell's words 'largely the defense of the indefensible' and whether language 'is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.'"
コメント (21)
  • @binshuo
    We don’t have this kind of interviews today. This is quality stuff. No fluff, only humorous and educational conversation
  • @MyGman2012
    The great thing about this interview is your life is one big double speak!
  • @HALF_DAY
    This is so refreshing to listen to. For the longest time I’ve noticed double speak everywhere in our society but didn’t know the term to describe it.
  • @Jenleahhh
    What an incredibly interesting person to listen to. I want to meet people like this in real life.
  • @JustTayo
    Such a delight watching this again. So informative.
  • @Eatingsundew499
    I wonder if Mr. Lutz would change his statement about the control of information. At the time of this interview i believe he was correct in saying information could not be controlled in the way that Orwell envisioned. In todays world I think it’s entirely possible. I would love to know if Mr. Lutz has commented on these dramatic changes if anyone is aware
  • @LeviticusKoenDog
    I saw this video on a different channel, i can't find that channel now even though I subscribed and got the "all notifications" button, it had this and thousands of more videos like this, pretty sure it was taken down.
  • @SporkThis
    I appreciate toast with a sprinkling of synonyms.
  • @Mandragara
    I admire the bravery of the interviewer in trying to trick the man into saying something accidentally partisan.