> As far as how people really think, does it really matter?
Plenty of people in the RW think it does - and that language shapes (or *can* shape, or can be *made* to shape) the way we think. You could take time to read the "Newspeak" appendix to Orwell's "1984", or Noam Chomsky's earlier works (e.g. "Language and Mind").
Coupla links to follow if you're serious:
http://orwell.ru/library/novels/1984/e/e_appen.htm
http://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/us/chomsky.ht m
But I suspect if you're serious this should move to the Digest or offlist (where I'd be *delighted* to continue the discussion).
> In any case, no way you can say that English was "engineered" that
> way to control minds, it happened the other way around...
*Nobody* is arguing this. We are taking the fact that a rather creepy Empire, in a made-up world, which has a well-documented interest in employing underhanded methods to make people think in New Ways, has purposely invented its own official New Language; and trying to add stuff to make this More Fun. If you don't enjoy this, don't use it! Me, I just *love* tying Lunar Newspeak to Nysalor Riddles and seeing what else falls out along the way.
Cheers, Nick
PS: I *loved* Bryan's last post: many thanks!
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