History Main / Newspeak

** This was slightly different, as they actually published their 'War is Peace' redefinitions for the ministries, making it more PersonalDictionary. The point of NewSpeak was to change English so much they wouldn't need to anymore, because people wouldn't be able to conceive of it any other way.

* The society in ''Literature/TheGiver'' enforced what it called "precision of language." Children are strongly reprimanded for using any kind of exaggeration or figurative language, because they lump it under "lying". (The example given is a child who says he is starving when he is only very hungry, because implying that the state would really let anyone starve is seen as extremely problematic.) They can still play pretend, though, so it doesn't hamper their thinking. Additionally, due to the Giver system, a great deal of the very concepts of the old world (starvation, war, etc.) have been or are in the process of being completely scrubbed out of the collective consciousness this way almost passively. ReleasedToElsewhere is a prime example: it is a DeadlyEuphemism that nobody save the Giver even KNOWS is a euphemism because they have ceased to have virtually any concept of death. Which means that the authorities that order it and the doctors that perform it likely [[FridgeHorror probably don't realize the full ramifications of what they are doing.]] In short: NewSpeak so powerful and entrenched that even those that mandate it and enforce don't really recognize it for what it is. [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine the kind of psychological tampering THAT would require.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/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.

* 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 contexts and not to supplant existing language.

* The society in ''Literature/TheGiver'' enforced what it called "precision of language." Children are strongly reprimanded for using any kind of exaggeration or figurative language, because they lump it under "lying". (The example given is a child who says he is starving when he is only very hungry, because implying that the state would really let anyone starve is seen as extremely problematic.) They can still play pretend, though, so it doesn't hamper their thinking. Additionally, due to the Giver system, a great deal of the very concepts of the old world (stavation, war, etc) have been or are in the process of being completely scrubbed out of the collective consciousness this way almost passively. ReleasedToElsewhere is a prime example: it is a DeadlyEuphemism that nobody save the Giver even KNOWS is a euphemism because they have ceased to have virtually any concept of death. Which means that the authorities that order it and the doctors that perform it likely [[FridgeHorror probably don't realize the full ramifications of what they are doing.]] In short: NewSpeak so powerful and entrenched that even those that mandate it and enforce don't really recognize it for what it is. [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine the kind of psychological tampering THAT would require.]]

** 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 [[FridgeBrilliance 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.

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

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Angel One" where the aliens invite some of the Enterprise crew to an execution:
-->"Mistress Beata invites you to witness this morning's reaffirmation of Angel One's moral imperative."

* UnusualEuphemism (Thoughtcrime, Goodsex [sex between married Party members, without enjoyment on the woman's side, also known as "Duty To The State"], Joycamps [forced labor camps]).

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" (which would be in English "physical teacher") 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 (like "brunch" and "UsefulNotes/NaNoWriMo") or [[FunWithAcronyms acronyms]] pronounced as words (like "radar" and "laser") and such constructions were freely, if less frequently, used before, after and apart from the two totalitarian regimes.

* Almost any hot-button political topic will likely have a host of InsistentTerminology that one side will claim is more accurate than the term the opposing side claims is accurate. In many instances this sort of gratuitous use of PersonalDictionary can make political discussion impossible since people are just talking past each other (or in bad faith arguments, one or either side ''deliberately'' starts muddying definitions as a BaitAndSwitch). This is why formal debates typically require the participants to define their terms at the outset. Attempting to list them here is likely to start Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s, so... don't. Trying to offend neither side can be even more like newspeak, as the writer has to come up with new inoffensive terms.

* 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".

* ''Wiki/{{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]] (not to be confused with ''[[DumbIsGood Original Research]]'') is needed to tell whether it is so.

* ''Wiki/TVTropes'': [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourVocabulary This very site]].

* The society in ''Literature/TheGiver'' enforced what it called "precision of language." Children are strongly reprimanded for using any kind of exaggeration or figurative language, because they lump it under "lying". (The example given is a child who says he is starving when he is only very hungry, because implying that the state would really let anyone starve is seen as extremely problematic.) They can still play pretend, though, so it doesn't hamper their thinking. Additionally, due to the Giver system, a great deal of the very concepts of the old world (stavation, war, etc) have been or are in the process of being completely scrubbed out of the collective consciousness this way almost passively. ReleasedToElsewhere is a prime example: it is a DeadlyEuphemism that nobody save the Giver even KNOWS is a euphemism because they have ceased to have virtually any concept of death. Which means that the authorities that order it and the doctors that perform it likely [[FridgeHorror probably don't realize the full ramifications of what they are doing.]] In short: [[UpToEleven NewSpeak so powerful and entrenched that even those that mandate it and enforce don't really recognize it for what it is.]] [[ParanoiaFuel Imagine the kind of psychological tampering THAT would require.]]

* {{Unperson}}

* Almost any hot-button political topic will likely have a host of InsistentTerminology that one side will claim is more accurate than the term the opposing side claims is accurate. In many instances this sort of gratuitous use of PersonalDictionary can make political discussion impossible since people are just talking past each other (or in bad faith arguments, one or either side ''deliberately'' starts muddying definitions as a BaitAndSwitch). Attempting to list them here is likely to start Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s, so... don't. Trying to offend neither side can be even more like newspeak, as the writer has to come up with new inoffensive terms.

* Almost any hot-button political topic will likely have a host of InsistentTerminology that one side will claim is more accurate than the term the opposing side claims is accurate. Attempting to list them here is likely to start Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s, so... don't.
** Trying to offend neither side can be even more like newspeak, as the writer has to come up with new inoffensive terms.

* Almost any political topic that requires mention of Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment will likely have a host of InsistentTerminology that one side will claim is more accurate than the term the opposing side claims is accurate. Attempting to list them here is likely to start Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s.

* ''Series/TheFortyFourHundred''. 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.

The goal of Newspeak was essentially the reduction of vocabulary and destruction of words, especially synonyms and antonyms (so, for example, if the word "good" exists, then the word "bad" is unnecesary and would be abolished and replaced by "ungood") and to render language instinctively euphemistic, so as to suppress any possibility of expressing rebellious thoughts against the Party in the form of words. Based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English#Rules the rules of Basic English]] and the (now [[LanguageEqualsThought discredited]]) strong form of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis]] (the weak form is also controversial), it was intended to be a psychological and linguistic RestrainingBolt on the population of [[AirstripOne Oceania]]. Its construction is similar to [[UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage Esperanto]] (Ungood/Malbona) and other compounding languages (such as German). Contraction conventions from historical totalitarian regimes were also incorporated, resulting in words like "Ingsoc" which are similar in construction to "Comintern", "Nazi" and "Gestapo". Acronyms are used extensively. The Party predicted (or propagandized) that Newspeak would completely supplant English by 2050. Every edition of the Newspeak Dictionary was ''smaller'' than its predecessor.

The goal of Newspeak was essentially the reduction of vocabulary and destruction of words, especially synonyms and antonyms, and to render language instinctively euphemistic (if "good" already exists then "bad" will be abolished, instead replaced by "ungood"), so as to suppress any possibility of expressing rebellious thoughts against the party in the form of words. Based on [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basic_English#Rules the rules of Basic English]] and the (now [[LanguageEqualsThought discredited]]) strong form of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapir-Whorf_hypothesis Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis]] (the weak form is also controversial), it was intended to be a psychological and linguistic RestrainingBolt on the population of [[AirstripOne Oceania]]. Its construction is similar to [[UsefulNotes/EsperantoTheUniversalLanguage Esperanto]] (Ungood/Malbona) and other compounding languages (such as German). Contraction conventions from historical totalitarian regimes were also incorporated, resulting in words like "Ingsoc" which are similar in construction to "Comintern", "Nazi" and "Gestapo". Acronyms are used extensively. The Party predicted (or propagandized) that Newspeak would completely supplant English by 2050. Every edition of the Newspeak Dictionary was ''smaller'' than its predecessor.

* OrwellianEditor

* In order to render themselves as incompatible to the rest of the computer world as possible and permanently bind their customers to them, Microsoft reinvented parts of the computer language in [[TheNineties the early 90s]]. Directories became "folders" (to the point where nobody says "directory" anymore nowadays), daemons were introduced to DOS and Windows as "[=TSRs=]", and the Enter key was renamed "Return".

* The ChurchOfHappyology uses buttloads of NewSpeak.

* ''Series/{{Mash}}'': Hawkeye is told that he is an "Unperson" when the Army mistakenly notifies his father of his "death."

* ''Wiki/{{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]] (not to be confused with ''[[DumbIsGood Original Research]]'') is needed to [[AllBlueEntry tell]] whether it is so.

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" (which would be in English "physical teacher") 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.

* ''Wiki/{{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]] (not to be confused with ''[[DumbIsGood Original Research]]'') is needed to [[AllBlueEntry tell]] whether [[CaptainObvious it is so]].

* Almost any political topic that requires mention of TheRuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement will likely have a host of InsistentTerminology that one side will claim is more accurate than the term the opposing side claims is accurate. Attempting to list them here is likely to start Administrivia/{{Edit War}}s.

* Non-English example. In Mark Rosenfelder's ConstructedWorld there is a ConstructedLanguage, Munkhashi, which is a {{deconstruction}} of this trope. Just like Orwell's Newspeak, it is designed as a completely totalitarian language, to such extent that in any group of two people, one of them ''must'' speak in a humiliating manner to the other, even if they're ostensibly friends. In order for this to work though, the grammar is far more complicated than any real language is likely to be.