History Main / Newspeak

* Many in academia, management, elitist organisation, or really any other group that is difficult to get into will develop something like this. France, for example, has ''L'Academie francaise'' (The French Academy), who are the official authority on the French language. However, its recommendations carry no legal power, and even governmental authorities disregard the rulings from time to time.

* The Argentine journalist Pablo Mendelevich wrote the book "El relato kirchnerista en 200 expresiones" (in English, "The Kirchnerite narrative in 200 words"), detailing 200 words that the regime of Nestor and Cristina Kirchner have either created or modified. For example, in the Spanish language the word for "everybody" is "todos". The word can be used either for a group of males or a group with both males and females; and "todas" is for a group composed only of females. Kirchner made up instead the expression "todos y todas". The words "democracy" and "human rights" have been modified: "Democracy" now means "Whoever wins the elections has the legitimacy to do whatever he pleases" and "Human rights" is a great concept, but it only applies to the civil war of 1970's Argentina (which allows them to speak of human rights for domestic purposes and stay in good terms with Iran, Cuba, Venezuela or Angola). The words "Inflation" and "Corruption" are completely absent from the Kirchnerite speak and replaced by euphemisms, such as "rearrangement of prices".

* ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'' shows how this encourages [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4047 the communication gap]]: [[CasanovaWannabe Slick]] is unable to understand messages from "[[StrawFeminist The Sisterhood]]" and she is unable to translate them from her strange dialect to colloquial English.

* Many in academia, management, elitist organisation, or really any other group that is difficult to get into will develop something like this. France, for example, has ''L'Académie française'' (The French Academy), who are the official authority on the French language. However, its recommendations carry no legal power, and even governmental authorities disregard the rulings from time to time.

* The Argentine journalist Pablo Mendelevich wrote the book "El relato kirchnerista en 200 expresiones" (in English, "The Kirchnerite narrative in 200 words"), detailing 200 words that the regime of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner have either created or modified. For example, in the Spanish language the word for "everybody" is "todos". The word can be used either for a group of males or a group with both males and females; and "todas" is for a group composed only of females. Kirchner made up instead the expression "todos y todas". The words "democracy" and "human rights" have been modified: "Democracy" now means "Whoever wins the elections has the legitimacy to do whatever he pleases" and "Human rights" is a great concept, but it only applies to the civil war of 1970's Argentina (which allows them to speak of human rights for domestic purposes and stay in good terms with Iran, Cuba, Venezuela or Angola). The words "Inflation" and "Corruption" are completely absent from the Kirchnerite speak and replaced by euphemisms, such as "rearrangement of prices".

->[+'''Newspeak ''[[TropeNamer Truspoke]]'' (introduced distinctive new terms in the English lexicon, including):'''+]

->[+'''Newspeak ''[[TropeCodifier thoughtmade]]'' the following tropes:'''+]

Some Orwellian phrases have been replaced by modern equivalents; ''bellyfeel'' never caught on, [[PerfectlyCromulentWord despite the usefulness]] of a word to describe "that which is calculated to give a positive gut reaction", possibly because it sounds childish and begs to be used literally. The appearance of ''[[StephenColbert truthiness]]'' which contains the same meaning (that Orwell intended, not [[InUniverse Ingsoc]]), and ''mouthfeel'' which ''does'' literally mean "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin how a piece of food feels in the diner's mouth]]", in the past decade have probably ended ''bellyfeel'''s chances.

** Also, interestingly, the main protagonist is called Equality 7-2521, the numbers being a common fear of a 'loss of identity' to the collective group. But [[FridgeLogic when you think about it]], the transhumanist philosopher FM-2030 makes a compelling argument that any ''other'' naming convention stems from collectivism itself, as you do not choose your own name and it will have very specific parameters - your name being grounded on your gender, your ethnicity, nationality, or even just something your parents were fond of - while a numbering convention would make sure that you are the only individual with such a name.

* ''{{Sinfest}}'' shows how this encourages [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=4047 the communication gap]]: [[CasanovaWannabe Slick]] is unable to understand messages from "[[StrawFeminist The Sisterhood]]" and she is unable to translate them from her strange dialect to colloquial English.

* ''Website/{{Wikipedia}}''. ''[[WeaselWords Some argue]]'' that this ''[[{{Fandom}} notable]]'' [[{{MMORPG}} free encyclopedia]] spawned enough of Newspeak to qualify as a separate dialect. More [[Website/{{Google}} research]] ([[ViewersAreMorons not to be confused]] with ''[[DumbIsGood Original Research]]'') is needed to [[AllBlueEntry tell]] whether [[CaptainObvious it is so]].

* ''{{Wikipedia}}''. ''[[WeaselWords Some argue]]'' that this ''[[{{Fandom}} notable]]'' [[{{MMORPG}} free encyclopedia]] spawned enough of Newspeak to qualify as a separate dialect. More [[{{Google}} research]] ([[ViewersAreMorons not to be confused]] with ''[[DumbIsGood Original Research]]'') is needed to [[AllBlueEntry tell]] whether [[CaptainObvious it is so]].

* ''TheSimpsons'': In one of the [[HalloweenEpisode Treehouse Of Horror]] specials, Homer's tampering with time creates an Orwellian Springfield with Ned Flanders as Big Brother: "Heidely-ho, slaverinos!" That's right. They [[IncrediblyLamePun Flander]]ized NewSpeak.
** ''TheSimpsons'' also lampshaded the funeral industry's heavy system of euphemisms.

* Any technical language intended to do away with ambiguity, such as scientific writing or legal jargon ("legalese") will come to resemble NewSpeak to a greater or lesser extent, although the motivation behind it is quite different as it is intended for use only in certain narrowly-defined context and not to supplant existing language.

** A lot of technical jargon can sound like this, really

Strictly speaking, neither German nor Russian is an agglutinative language. The difference between them and English is one of spelling, that in German a compound is written as one word ("Physiklehrer") while in English it is written as two ("physics teacher"). Russian in fact often will use a combination of "(noun-derived) adjective + noun" where German and English use "noun + noun" compounds. The feature that Orwell imitated in Newspeak was a way of combining clipped elements of different words into one, because that became very pronounced in the language used by the Nazi and Soviet Communist regimes. However, linguistically speaking they are not that different from {{portmanteau}} words (e. g. "brunch") or [[FunWithAcronyms acronyms]] pronounced as words (e. g. "radar", "laser") and such constructions were freely, if less frequently, used before, after and apart from the two totalitarian regimes.

As noted above, many features of Newspeak are in fact similar to the features of real life compounding languages, including German and Russian, but also many Native American languages. This gave Newspeak a certain "[[BlackSpeech totalitarian flavor]]" at a time when both Germany and Russia had totalitarian governments. This point may be lost today, if only due to the popularity of the phenomenon, the theory that there is a connection between language and social behavior being mostly discredited (after all, people can go through many different governments, totalitarian or not, without changing their language). Also, this makes Newspeak especially difficult to portray in a translation of Literature/NineteenEightyFour into a language that is already agglutinative. If the word for "bad" in your native language is already something like "ungood", translators will have a hard time coming up with a Newspeak version of it.

* ''{{The 4400}}''. In one episode, when Tom and Diana are sent to see who is writing a pro-promicin blog, Diana comments that they aren't supposed to be the Thought Police.

NewSpeak is a [[{{Fictionary}} fictive language]] invented by Creator/GeorgeOrwell for the novel ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour.'' Newspeak was the official language of Oceania, and the inhabitants of Oceania were 'encouraged' to think and converse in Newspeak.

->[+'''NewSpeak ''[[TropeNamer Truspoke]]'' (introduced distinctive new terms in the English lexicon, including):'''+]

->[+'''NewSpeak ''[[TropeCodifier thoughtmade]]'' the following tropes:'''+]

!!!'''NewSpeak ''[[{{Tropes}} Examplestrope]]'' (contains examples of):'''

!!''{{Newspeak}} [[{{Works}} Exampleswork]]'' - [-(variations of newspeak appear in the following works):-]

[[AC:Meta]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Toys]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

[[AC:RealLife]]

* [[AynRand AynRand's]] novella ''Anthem'' depicts a stagnant, collectivist future in which words like "I," "Me," "Mine," have been eliminated in favor of "We", "Us," and "Our." He/She has become "They." Other words have been eliminated as well, which the main character rediscovers from ancient texts. Rand's use of the basic concept even predates Orwell.

* Ayn Rand's novella ''Anthem'' depicts a stagnant, collectivist future in which words like "I," "Me," "Mine," have been eliminated in favor of "We", "Us," and "Our." He/She has become "They." Other words have been eliminated as well, which the main character rediscovers from ancient texts. Rand's use of the basic concept even predates Orwell.

* ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'': During President Clark's totalitarian regime, and also in a FlashForward ("Reverse-Correct [=InfoSpeak=]" being used to describe Historical Revisionism; specifically revised bits of history are "Goodfacts" as opposed to "Realfacts").
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'': Hawkeye is told that he is an "Unperson" when the Army mistakenly notifies his father of his "death."

'''Funeral Director:''' "[[ITakeOffenseToThatLastOne Actually, sir]], we prefer the term 'casket' to 'coffin' and 'monument' to 'tombstone.' We have all the leading brands of anti-stink spray."

* ''ThisPerfectDay'' has language changed to make words like "fight" and "hate" be considered horrible cusswords, in hopes that the concepts would become anathema, if not exactly unthinkable. After all, if you don't know what hate and violence are, you can't be happy that UNICOMP keeps you free from them, can you?

** Also interestingly the main protagonist is called Equality 7-2521, the numbers being a common fear of a 'loss of identity' to the collective group. But when you think about it, the transhumanist philosopher FM-2030 makes a compelling argument than any other naming convention stems from collectivism itself, as you do not choose your own name and it will have very specific parameters - your name being grounded on your gender, your ethnicity, nationality, or even just something your parents were fond of - while a numbering convention would make sure that you are the only individual with such a name.

Some Orwellian phrases have been replaced by modern equivalents; ''bellyfeel'' never caught on, [[PerfectlyCromulentWord despite the usefulness]] of a word to describe "that which is calculated to give a positive gut reaction", possibly because it sounds childish and begs to be used literally. The appearance of ''[[StephenColbert truthiness]]'', which contains the same meaning (that Orwell intended, not [[InUniverse Ingsoc]]) and ''mouthfeel'' which ''does'' literally mean "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin how a piece of food feels in the diner's mouth]]" in the past decade have probably ended ''bellyfeel'''s chances.

* ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' ([[TropeMaker Well]] [[CaptainObvious du'h]])

* Many in academia, management, elitist organisation, or really any other group that is difficult to get into will develop something like this. France, for example, has ''L'Académie française'' (The French Academy), who are the official authority on the French language.