Editing Doublespeak (section)

== Origins and concepts ==
The term ''doublespeak'' derives from two concepts in [[George Orwell]]'s novel, ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]'', "[[doublethink]]" and "[[Newspeak]]", despite the term itself not being used in the novel.<ref name="A1">{{cite book |last1=Wasserman |first1=Paul |title=Weasel Words: The Dictionary of American Doublespeak |last2=Hausrath |first2=Don |date=30 October 2005 |publisher=Capital Ideas Book |isbn=978-1933102078 |page=11 |chapter=Introduction}}</ref> Another version of the term, ''doubletalk'', also referring to intentionally ambiguous speech, did exist at the time Orwell wrote his book, but the usage of ''doublespeak'', as well as of "doubletalk", in the sense of emphasizing ambiguity, clearly predates the publication of the novel.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2012 | title = double, adj. 1 and adv. | encyclopedia = OED | edition = online | publisher = Oxford University Press | url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/57004?rskey=mWZwYd&result=1 | access-date = February 6, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia | year = 2012 | title = double-talk, n.| encyclopedia = OED | edition= online | publisher = Oxford University Press | url= http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/57061 | access-date = February 6, 2013}}</ref> Parallels have also been drawn between doublespeak and Orwell's classic essay, ''[[Politics and the English Language]]'', which discusses linguistic distortion for purposes related to politics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1 =Kehl |first1 =D. G. | last2 = Livingston | first2 = Howard |title= Doublespeak Detection for the English Classroom |journal=The English Journal |date= July 1999 |volume=88 |issue= 6 |page= 78 |doi =10.2307/822191 |jstor=822191}}</ref> In the essay, he observes that political language often serves to distort and obscure reality. Orwell's description of political speech is extremely similar to the popular definition of the term, doublespeak:<ref>{{cite book |title= 1984 |last= Orwell |first= George | place = New York | publisher = Signet Books |year=1949 |page=163}}</ref>
{{Blockquote|In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defence of the indefensible… Thus political language has to consist largely of euphemism, question-begging and sheer cloudy vagueness… the great enemy of clear language is insincerity. Where there is a gap between one's real and one's declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms…}}

The writer [[Edward S. Herman]] cited what he saw as examples of doublespeak and doublethink in modern society.<ref>Herman 1992, p. 25.</ref>  Herman describes in his book, ''Beyond Hypocrisy,'' the principal characteristics of doublespeak:
{{blockquote |What is really important in the world of doublespeak is the ability to lie, whether knowingly or unconsciously, and to get away with it; and the ability to use lies and choose and shape facts selectively, blocking out those that don’t fit an agenda or program.<ref>Herman 1992. p. 3.</ref>}}