The Back Story

No novel of the past century has had more influence than George Orwell’s 1984.?Many words from the novel including "Big Brother" have entered the English language as instantly recognizable signs of a nightmare future. The term "Doublespeak" is derived from two concepts from the same novel, one of which is "Doublethink". George Orwell describes "Doublethink" as the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously and accepting both:

“To know and not to know, to be conscious of complete truthfulness while telling carefully constructed lies,..… to use logic against logic, ….. to forget whatever it was necessary to forget, then to draw it back into memory again at the moment?it was needed, and then promptly to forget it again: and above all, to apply the same process to the process itself -that was the ultimate subtlety" - George Orwell in 1984

If you got "Doublethink" - then understanding "Doublespeak" is a breeze. The inspiration for this newsletter comes from the prevalence of "Doublespeak" in our lives today. Don't believe me? Examples of famous phrases that are a part of our vocabulary now:

• "alternative facts" instead of "lies" or "misinformation."
• "person of interest" instead of a "suspect in a crime”
• "good effort" instead of "that's not right"
• "he's not the best driver" instead of "he is a terrible driver"
• "what an interesting flavor" instead of "yuck, that is horrible"

So how did we go from understanding such conceptual notions to making them such an integral part of our lives. It is easy. Comedians always had mastered the art of "Doublespeak". Given their ability to say anything without saying it, marketers saw gold and turned it into a science. And voila, the politicians found a way to make it democratic. See, that's how easy it is to blame the politicians.

For those who missed the irony; 'Doublespeak' is communicating in a way that obscures or camouflages the truth. It combines both sense and nonsense in a deliberate effort to conceal the true meaning or to soften the impact of what is being said. Unfettered means unrestrained or uninhibited. Putting the three things together we have 'Jhamb's Unfettered Doublespeak' or the abbreviation 'JHUND.' In Hindi, it is '?????'. It means [Bunch or Legion] in English and is pronounced as {jhuND}.

This is my attempt to couple satire, sarcasm, humor, uncommon common sense, and life experiences into newsletters that make you smile, relate and reflect - et comme ?a, you get the tagline- 'Nothing but Unfettered Doublespeak'.

All views in '?????' {jhuND} conceived, expressed, stated, written or implied will truthfully be personal and will never ever have anything to do with my professional commitments.? Some stories may have been published earlier under a pseudonym. Hope you enjoy!?