Dedication from the
frontispiece: With gratitude to the National Council of Teachers of
English and its Committee on Public Doublespeak for all the things
furnished by the chair, Bill Lutz. And, of course, my gratitude to
Eric Arthur Blair, a/k/a George Orwell, and to Mason Locke Weems, who
fabricated the curious anecdote about George Washington in order to
show the virtue of truth. Other versions of truth, incidentally,
may be seen in The Quarterly Review of Doublespeak,
the Committee's journal that reflects the responsible (and
irresponsible) use of public language (Subscriptions $3 per year,
NCTE, 111 Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801).
I note that this wonderful-sounding journal is sadly
no longer published. It would seem to be something that would be
quite useful today. Perhaps it just couldn't keep up with all the
doublespeak that we hear in our lives these days.
