Martin X. Moleski, SJ
December 25th 07, 10:09 PM
For
example, All mans are equal was a possible Newspeak sentence, but only
in the same sense in which All men are redhaired is a possible Oldspeak
sentence. It did not contain a grammatical error, but it expressed a
palpable untruth -- i.e. that all men are of equal size, weight, or
strength. The concept of political equality no longer existed, and this
secondary meaning had accordingly been purged out of the word equal. In
1984, when Oldspeak was still the normal means of communication, the
danger theoretically existed that in using Newspeak words one might
remember their original meanings. In practice it was not difficult for
any person well grounded in doublethink to avoid doing this, but within
a couple of generations even the possibility of such a lapse would have
vaished. A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no
more know that equal had once had the secondary meaning of ?politically
equal?, or that free had once meant ?intellectually free?, than for
instance, a person who had never heard of chess would be aware of the
secondary meanings attaching to queen and rook. There would be many
crimes and errors which it would be beyond his power to commit, simply
because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable. And it was to be
foreseen that with the passage of time the distinguishing
characteristics of Newspeak would become more and mor
example, All mans are equal was a possible Newspeak sentence, but only
in the same sense in which All men are redhaired is a possible Oldspeak
sentence. It did not contain a grammatical error, but it expressed a
palpable untruth -- i.e. that all men are of equal size, weight, or
strength. The concept of political equality no longer existed, and this
secondary meaning had accordingly been purged out of the word equal. In
1984, when Oldspeak was still the normal means of communication, the
danger theoretically existed that in using Newspeak words one might
remember their original meanings. In practice it was not difficult for
any person well grounded in doublethink to avoid doing this, but within
a couple of generations even the possibility of such a lapse would have
vaished. A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no
more know that equal had once had the secondary meaning of ?politically
equal?, or that free had once meant ?intellectually free?, than for
instance, a person who had never heard of chess would be aware of the
secondary meanings attaching to queen and rook. There would be many
crimes and errors which it would be beyond his power to commit, simply
because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable. And it was to be
foreseen that with the passage of time the distinguishing
characteristics of Newspeak would become more and mor