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Jul 19, 1999

This week's theme
Eponyms

This week's words
orwellian
berserk
macadam
mansard
stakhanovite
euhemerism
argonaut

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orwellian

orwellian (or-WEL-ee-uhn) adjective

Of, relating to, or evocative of the works of George Orwell, especially the satirical novel 1984, which depicts a futuristic totalitarian state.

"Military satellites designed to guide nuclear missiles are being used to monitor prison parolees and probationers in a technological advance designed to reduce the nation's skyrocketing prison population. But critics say it also raises the specter of an Orwellian future."
Gary Fields; Satellite 'Big Brother' eyes parolees Technology is same as that used to guide nuclear missiles; USA Today; Apr 8, 1999.

Today's AWAD word would perhaps have been Blairian had English author George Orwell (1903-1950) chosen to write as Eric Arthur Blair, his given name, instead of using a pen name. No matter, it would still be an eponym a word derived from a person's name. Although Orwell is best known for his satires "Animal Farm" and "1984", he wrote many compelling essays and articles. In one of his essays, 'Politics and the English Language', he translates this verse from Ecclesiastes to show how language can be, and often is, used not only to illuminate but also to obscure:

"I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favor to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

"Objective consideration of contemporary phenomena compels the conclusion that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element that success or failure in competitive activities exhibits no tendency to be commensurate with innate capacity, but that a considerable element of the unpredictable must invariably be taken into account."

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY