We hear and read doublespeak every day, but what, exactly, is doublespeak? Webster's dictionary defines doublespeak with these words: evasive, ambiguous, high-flown language intended to deceive or confuse. In his bestselling book Doublespeak, William Lutz notes that doublespeak is not an accident or a "slip of the tongue." Instead, it is a deliberate, calculated misuse of language.

 

Specific Attributes of Doublespeak

Lutz provides several defining attributes of doublespeak:

• misleads

• distorts reality

• pretends to communicate

• makes the bad seem good

• avoids or shifts responsibility

• makes the negative appear positive

• creates a false verbal map of the world

• limits, conceals, corrupts, and prevents thought

• makes the unpleasant appear attractive or tolerable

• creates incongruity between reality and what is said or not said

 

History of the Word "Doublespeak"

As these attributes indicate, doublespeak can be seen as analogous to doublethink and Newspeak, concepts created by George Orwell in 1984. Using doublethink, a person could hold two opposing ideas in his or her mind at the same time, fully believing in both ideas. "Newspeak" was the official language used to express the ideas of doublethink.