Newspeak and other terminology found in Orwell's novel "1984", with some additional words which only appear in the movie.
Airstrip One - England. Orwell chose this term primarily due to his dislike of American influence in the British military. He was often quoted as saying that he felt that America was using England as a place to set up military bases in the European area so we can meddle in European affairs.
artsem - Artificial Insemination - The government is pushing this method of childbirth as the ONLY method, to aid in the destruction of the family unit. To hear a speech on Artsem from the movie, click here --->
Atomic Wars - The Atomic Wars took place during the 1950's. Colchester, England is the only city that was specifically mentioned as being nuked, but the book does say that many cities were destroyed in North America, Europe, and Russia.
bb - Big Brother. Similar to America's "Uncle Sam", except this (possibly) fictional character gives awards, and makes statements in newspapers. Is worshiped almost as if he were a god.This word has found it's way into everyday speech, and can be found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
big brother, noun, Date: 1863
1 : an older brother
2 : a man who befriends a delinquent or friendless boy
3 : capitalized both Bs [Big Brother, personification of the power of the state in 1984 (1949) by George Orwell] a : the leader of an authoritarian state or movement b : an all-powerful government or organization monitoring and directing people's actions [data banks that tell Big Brother all about us -- Herbert Brucker]
bellyfeel - Full emotional understanding. Blind, enthusiastic acceptance of a concept.
blackwhite- The ability to accept whatever the party tells you. Orwell described it as "...loyal willingness to say black is white when party discipline demands this. It also means the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know black is white, and forget that one has ever believed the contrary."
The Brotherhood - see the resistance
Chestnut Tree Cafe - The "haunt of painters and musicians. There was no law, not even an unwritten law, against frequenting the Chestnut Tree Cafe, yet the place was somehow ill-omened. The old, discredited leaders of the Party had been used to gather there before they were finally purged. Goldstein himself, it was said, had sometimes been seen there, decades ago."
There is a rhyme about the cafe that re-occurs throughout the book:
Under the spreading chestnut tree
I sold you and you sold me
There lie they, and here lie we
Under the spreading chestnut tree
crimestop - Orwell's definition : "The faculty of stopping short, as though by instinct, at the threshold of any dangerous thought. It includes the power of not grasping analogies, of failing to perceive logical errors, of misunderstanding the simplest arguments if they are inimical to Ingsoc, and of being bored or repelled by any train of thought which is capable of leading in a heretical direction. In short....protective stupidity."
choco-ration - Chocolate ration
crimethink - To even consider any thought not in line with the principles of Ingsoc. Doubting any of the principles of Ingsoc. All crimes begin with a thought. So, if you control thought, you can control crime. "Thoughtcrime is death. Thoughtcrime does not entail death, Thoughtcrime is death....The essential crime that contains all others in itself."
dayorder - Order of the day. The "Order of the Day" was a real-life propaganda technique used by America during WWII.Disputed Territories - These are areas of the world NOT permanently included in any of the Superstates : The quadrilateral between Tangier, Brazzaville, Darwin, and Hong Kong; Equatorial Africa; Middle East; Southern India; and the Indonesian Archipelago. These area are always occupied by one of the three superstates, and are constantly changing hands. The borders of Eurasia flow back and forth between the basin of the Congo and the northern shore of the Mediterranean ; The islands of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific are constantly being captured and recaptured by Oceania or by Eastasia; in Mongolia the dividing line between Eurasia and Eastasia is never stable ; round the pole all three powers lay claim to enormous territories.
doubleplus- - A Prefix used to create the superlative form of an adjective or adverb. (i.e. - pluscold and doublepluscold meant, respectively, 'very cold' and 'superlatively cold'.
"If you want a stronger version of "good", what sense is there in having a whole string of vague useless words like "excellent" and "splendid" and all the rest of them? "Plusgood" covers the meaning, or " doubleplusgood" if you want something stronger still. "
doublethink - The power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accept both of them. A good example of doublethink in modern society is the war on drugs. If you ask people their opinion on alcohol prohibition in the 1920s, most people would agree that it was a complete failure. People agree that it only caused more crime, it made gangsters rich, it corrupted politicians, and most importantly ... it didn't keep people from drinking.
Yet, we have almost the exact same situation today with war on drugs, yet most people think that our modern prohibition is a good idea ... and more than that, they believe that anybody that thinks that the war on drugs isn't a good idea must be completely out of their minds. In order for a person to be effective at doublethink, they must master the art of crimestop.
This word has even made its way into the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
dou·ble·think ('d&-b&l-"thi[ng]k), noun, Date: 1949 : a simultaneous belief in two contradictory ideas.
duckspeak - (To quack like a duck). To speak without thinking. Can be either good or bad, depending on who is speaking, and what they are saying.
Eastasia - Smallest of the 3 Superstates.(Political System: Death Worship/Obliteration of Self) Comprised of China and the countries to the south of it, Japan, and a large (but fluctuating) portion of Manchuria, Mongolia, and Tibet.
Click here to view world map
Eurasia - One of the 3 Superstates. (Political System: Neo-Bolshevism) Comprised of the whole northern part of the European and Asiatic land-mass, from Portugal to the Bering Strait.
Click here to view world map
facecrime - Orwell's definition :
It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself -- anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face (to look incredulous when a victory was announced, for example) was itself a punishable offence. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime, it was called.
FFCC - Organization which supplied cigarettes and other comforts to sailors in the "Floating Fortresses." This organization was suddenly dissolved in March of 1984 without explanation.
FicDep - Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth
Floating Fortress - Huge sea bases. Gigantic battleships. This term has it's roots in the real-life term for bombers during WWII, the flying fortress.
free - Only exist in the sense of "The dog is free of lice". The concept of political freedom has been replaced by the word crimethink. To hear Winston Smith's definition of freedom, click here --->
fullwise - (adverb) Fully. One of the rules of newspeak is that any word can be turned into an adverb by adding the suffix "-wise". This allowed the removal of repetitive words such as completely and totally from the language.
The Golden Country- A beautiful landscape that Winston sees in his dreams. It is a symbol of purity... A land untouched by humans (and not altered by the government>
Goldstein, Emmanual - The supreme enemy of the state. He was once a high-ranking member of the party, until he suppossedly betrayed the the party and begin engaging in revolutionary activities. He is the supposed head of the "resistance". Goldstein is to Ingsoc what Satan is to Christianity... The embodiment of pure evil.There are similarities between this fictional character and the real-life Russian, Leon Trotsky, shown right.
goodsex - Sex for the purpose of producing children for the party. The opposite of sexcrime.
goodthinker - One who strongly adheres to all of the principles of Newspeak. (goodthinked, goodthink, goodthinked, goodthinking, goodthinkful, goodthinking, goodthinkful, goodthinkwise, goodthinker )
Hate week - Week in which Oceanian citizens all attend rallies and parades to inflame hatred of Party enemies and heighten their efforts on behalf of Oceania.
Ingsoc - English Socialism.
Inner Party. Official Party members. Upper class. About 6 million individuals (or 2%) of the population in Oceania fall into this class. They posses most of the comforts of today's middle class (with the addition of two or three servants and possibly a helicopter).
joycamp - Forced-labor camp.
Junior Anti-sex league - Organization promoting celibacy, and the eradication of the orgasm, because these things cause feelings of ownlife.
malreported - When the Times reports a fact which the government later deemed untrue. You see, the government is never "wrong", the paper merely reported the facts incorrectly. This term was often used in describing newspaper articles that contained references to unpersons, unfulfilled economic projections, or altered government policies.
malquoted - see malreported
memory hole - A system of pipes, similar to pneumatic tubes, which were used to destroy documents. A document stuffed in the memory hole would be conveniently whisked away to the furnaces below - quickly & easily wiped from history.
Miniluv - Ministry of Love (law and order)Minipax - Ministry of Peace (war)
Miniplenty - Ministry of Plenty (rationing)
Minitrue - Ministry of Truth (propaganda) - Department of the government in charge of all record keeping, history re-writing, and prolefeed
misprints - see malreported
Newspeak - The official language of Oceania. Newspeak is "politically correct" speech taken to it's maximum extent. Newspeak is based on standard English, but all words describing "unorthodox" political ideas have been removed. In addition, there was an attempt to remove the overall number of words in general, to limit the range of ideas that could be expressed.
The most important aim of newspeak was to provide a means of speaking that required no thought what-so-ever. It uses abbreviations or clipped conjunctions in order to mask or alter a word's true meaning. For example, words such as Miniluv and joycamp, allow the speaker to speak without actually being force to think about what they were talking about.. or at least, not as much as if they were required to use complete phrases such as "Ministry of Love" or "Forced Labor Camp". These words just roll right off the lips before the speaker can even contemplate what he is really saying.
Reducing the number of words also removes any literary value to writing, because there would only be one distinct way to present any particular concept. It would be impossible to write a book like Common Sense , Uncle Tom's Cabin, or even 1984 in Newspeak. Not only would the correct words for certain concepts not be available, but a lack of adjectives would cause the writing would be completely bland and unemotional, which in itself would keep people from reading at all.
Here is the official definition from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
new·speak ('nü-"spEk, 'nyü-), noun, Usage: often capitalized. : propagandistic language marked by euphemism, circumlocution, and the inversion of customary meanings. Etymology: Newspeak, a language "designed to diminish the range of thought," in the novel 1984 (1949) by George Orwell. Date: 1950To hear Syme and Winston discuss the future of newspeak, click here --->
Oceania - One of the 3 Superstates. (Political System: Ingsoc) Winston Smith's home. Comprised of North and South America, Britain, Australia, and southern portions of Africa. Newspeak is the official language of Oceania, but standard English is still spoken by many.
Click here to view world map
Oldspeak - Standard English. Newspeak is based on Oldspeak, with all words which represent unpopular (or politically incorrect) ideas removed.
oldthink - Holding on to old ideas and patterns of thought not consistent with current government policy (Ingsoc). Maintaining a belief that is no longer acceptable, but was normal just a few years prior.oldthinkers - Those who engage in oldthink Those who have not fully accepted the new Ingsoc way of thinking.
Outer Party - Middle class. Bureaucrats, and other government employees. Comprising approximately 13% of population. There is a huge gap between the standard of living of Inner and Outer party members. Outer Party members have very little possessions, and almost no access to basic consumer goods. All outer party members have a telescreen in every room of their pathetic excuse for an apartment.
ownlife - Individualism and eccentricity. A desire to do something for your own benefit. (i.e. hobbies, ownersip of property, love, or any other Thoughtcrime)
Physical Jerks - Morning Exercises.
Pornosec - Department of Minitrue. Produces the "lowest-kind" of pornography for the proles. In the Novel, it is described as a "sub-section of the Fiction Department which turned out cheap pornography for distribution among the proles. It was nicknamed Muck House by the people who worked in it". They "produced booklets in sealed packets with titles like Spanking Stories or One Night in a Girls' School, to be bought furtively by proletarian youths who were under the impression that they were buying something illegal.
prole - Proletarians. Approximately 85% of Oceania's population are in this class. Members of the party viewed them as animals. They are not as rigidly observed as members of the party, and very few (if any) have telescreens in their home. They are permitted to indulge in pornography, prostitution, and other acts considered thoughtcrime, simply because it would be impossible to observe all of them as rigidly as the party observes its own members. Plus, allowing them to indulge in these "little joys" helps to keep the masses content.
prolefeed - Rubishy "Entertainment" and spurious news which the Party handed out to the masses. This includes written literature, movies, porn, music, and other various propaganda created for the proles.
Recdep - Records Department - Department of the Ministry of Truth in which Winston Smith worked. Department responsible for correcting "mistakes" in past newspaper articles.
ref - Reference.
resistance - The resistance was the revolutionary group which was supposedly led by the arch-traitor, Emmanuel Goldstein. There is some question as to whether or not this group actually existed. The novel seems to imply that the resistance was simply fabricated by the government, or at the very least, that the police had agents posing as real resistance members in order to catch possible recruits.
The only thing that is for sure, is that the party blamed every possible woe of society on this group. The resistance was blamed for spreading herpes, contaminating the water supply, forging government documents (which was the reason for so many "misprints" in the papers), abducting party members, helping to aim rocket bombs to targets on Airstrip One, and destroying industrial machinery. Every single thing that ever goes wrong is blamed on this group. For instance : Whenever the trains don't run on time, it is said that the resistance has alter the train schedule ... When a department does meet their production goal, it is said that the resistance has altered the original data, resulting in a over-estimation of production for that year.
Room 101 - The final punishment for thoughtcriminals in the Ministry of Love."The thing is in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world....The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths..... "Click here to hear the room 101 scene from the movie --->
Steamer - Prole word for Rocket Bomb
sexcrime - Having sex for enjoyment. Also, even having sex in the hope to create a family of your own. The only time that sex is considered goodsex is when it is performed in producing offspring for the party.
speakwrite - Voice recognition machines. (Not bad for a book written in 1948)
speedwise - (adverb) quickly. One of the rules of newspeak is that any word can be turned into an adverb by adding the suffix "-wise". This allowed the removal of repetitive words such as quickly and promptly from the language.
Teledep - The Teleprograms Department of the Ministry of Truth
Telescreen - Two way television. There is only one channel, and the telescreen may not be turned off except by members of the Inner Party. All party members has one in every room of their apartment. Because of this, the party member is never out of earshot of the latest party propaganda, and not one second goes by that they are not under the surveillance of the party.
Thoughtcrime - see crimethink
Thinkpol - ThoughtPolice. Police force in charge of eliminating crimethink. The thought police monitor the public by way of spies (narcs), helicopters, and telescreens.
two minute hate - Daily telescreen specials in which various elements of crimethink were packaged into a parade of horrible images and sounds, at which, the viewers were expected to boo, hiss, curse. and release any negative emotions upon. To hear the Two Minute Hate from the opening credits of the movie, click here ---->
unperson - Person that has been erased from existence by the government for breaking the law in some way. A unperson is completely erased from history. All records of their existance is removed from record, and all party members are expected to removed them from memory. To mention their name is considered thoughtcrime. This eliminates any possibility of martyrdom.
ungood - Bad. One of the rules of newspeak is that any word can be turned into its antonym by adding the prefix "un-". This allowed the removal of repetitive words such as horrible, terrible, great, fantastic, and fabulous from the language.
After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good", what need is there for a word like "bad"? "Ungood" will do just as well -- better, because it's an exact opposite, which the other is not.
upsub - Get authorization from superiors (Submit to "Higher-ups" for approval)
vaporized - Being exicuted by the state, and having all records of your existance erased. Becoming an unperson.
versificator - A writing machine. A mechanical device that produced "literature" and "music" for the masses. This was necessary so that a party member would not be forced to cloud their mind with such frivolous concepts. It produced rubbishy newspapers containing almost nothing except sport, crime and astrology, sensational five-cent novelettes, films oozing with sex, and and even sentimental songs.
Youth League - Mandatory children's group under control of the Thought Police. Similar to the "Hitler Youth". Their member's primary task is to monitor the activities of their parents.x yp n quarter - Method or writing a date. x= Year of the plan, n= quarter of year. (i.e. 3 yp 4th quarter)
