Newspeak

Oceania 'Tis for thee

National Anthem of Oceania.

Dayorder

Order of the day. The "Order of the Day" was a real-life propaganda technique used by America during WWII.

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.

Miniplenty

Ministry of Plenty (rationing). The Ministry of Plenty controlled the entire economy.

Junior Anti-sex league

Organization promoting celibacy, and the eradication of the orgasm, because these things cause feelings of ownlife.

Crimethinker

One who engages in crimethink.

Teledep

The Teleprograms Department of the Ministry of Truth

Speakwrite

Voice recognition machines.

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.

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.

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.

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 even sentimental songs.

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'.

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).

Big Brother

Also referred to as simply "B.B.". Similar to America's "Uncle Sam", except this individual is the leader of the nation. In Oceania, Big Brother is worshiped almost as if he were a god.

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

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.

Chocorat

Chocolate ration. The chocolate ration in 1983 was 30 grams per week. (For comparison, a standard Hershey's Chocolate Bar is 43 grams) In the year 1984, the chocolate ration went up to 25 grams per week. Winston himself is charged with the task of re-writing history to make this little feat possible.

Reclamation Centre

Colony for children made homeless during the Atomic Wars.

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.

Ingsoc

English Socialism.

FicDep

Fiction Department of the Ministry of Truth

Joycamp

Forced-labor camp.

Airstrip one

Formally called England. This term demonstrates Orwell's disdain for American influence Europe. It seems that Oceania (America, England, South America, Australia) looks upon Britain as little more than an 'airstrip' ... a launching ground into the European theater of war. It appears that Orwell was predicting the minor role that England would play in the global politics of the future.

Bellyfeel

Full emotional understanding. Blind, enthusiastic acceptance of a concept.

Upsub

Get authorization from superiors (Submit to "Higher-ups" for approval)

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.

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.

Floating fortress

Huge sea bases. Gigantic battleships. This term has its roots in the real-life term for bombers during WWII, flying fortress.

Ownlife

Individualism and eccentricity. A desire to do something for your own benefit. (i.e. hobbies, ownership of property, love, or any other Thoughtcrime)

Doublespeak

It is important to note that this term does not appear anywhere within Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. I mention it here only due to its similarity to other Newspeak terms such as doublethink, duckspeak, Newspeak, and Oldspeak. And even though it appears that the term was not actually created by Orwell himself, it does carry a very Orwellian meaning of "Deliberately ambiguous or evasive language; any language that pretends to communicate but actually does not."

Miniluv

Ministry of Love (law and order). "The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors, and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons... One did not know what happened inside the Ministry of Love, but it was possible to guess: tortures, drugs, delicate instruments that registered your nervous reactions, gradual wearing-down by sleeplessness and solitude and persistent questioning."

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.

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.

Minipax

Ministry of Peace (war)

Minitrue

Ministry of Truth (propaganda) - Department of the government in charge of all record keeping, history re-writing, and prolefeed "It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 meters into the air. The Ministry of Truth contained, it was said, three thousand rooms above ground level, and corresponding ramifications below. Scattered about London there were just three other buildings of similar appearance and size. So completely did they dwarf the surrounding architecture that from the roof of Victory Mansions you could see all four of them simultaneously. They were the homes of the four Ministries between which the entire apparatus of government was divided."

Physical Jerks

Morning Exercises. Participation was mandatory for all outer party members. These exercises took place every day 3 minutes after the morning wake-up call, which for office workers was at 7:15 am.

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).

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.

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. Eurasia was Oceania's enemy at the start of the book, and by the end Eurasia had always been Oceania's ally.

Goldstein's book

One of the greatest acts of heresy that a citizen of Oceania can possibly commit is to read Goldstein's Book, The Theory and Practice of Oligarchical Collectivism. The government portrays the book as the centerpiece of the Resistance -- the ultimate tome of all that is evil -- which is the reason Winston coveted it so. But when you get right down to it, all this book does is explain the structure of society in straightforward and honest manner. And under a totalitarian regime, that is the single greatest act of thoughtcrime possible.

Goodthinker

One who strongly adheres to all of the principles of Newspeak.

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

FFCC

Organization which supplied cigarettes and other comforts to sailors on the "Floating Fortresses." This organization was suddenly dissolved in March of 1984 without explanation.

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."

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."

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 existence 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.

Steamer

Prole word for Rocket Bomb

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.

Doublethink

Reality Control. The power to hold two completely contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accept both of them. An excellent 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.

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.

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.

Goodsex

Sex for the purpose of producing children for the party. The opposite of sexcrime.

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. Eastasia was Oceania's ally at the start of the book, and by the end Eastasia had always been Oceania's enemy. 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.

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."

Blackwhite

The ability to accept whatever "truth" the party puts out, no matter how absurd it may be. 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."

Vaporized

The act of being executed by the state, and having all records of your existence erased. Becoming an unperson.

Malabar Front

The front-lines in the war with Eastasia, located in present day India.

Newspeak

The official language of Oceania. Newspeak is "politically correct" speech taken to its 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.

Emmanuel Goldstein

The supreme enemy of the state. He was once a high-ranking member of the party, until he supposedly betrayed 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.

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, but 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.

Oldthinkers

Those who engage in oldthink Those who have not fully accepted the new Ingsoc way of thinking.

Thinkpol

ThoughtPolice. Police force in charge of eliminating crimethink. The thought police monitor the public by way of spies (narcs), helicopters, and telescreens.

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."

Telescreen

Two way television. 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. There was no way to change the channel, and the telescreen could not be turned off except by members of the Inner Party.

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.

Resistance

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.

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.