George Orwell's guide to good English

Came across Orwell's guide to writing good English (via Indiauncut). Looks pretty relevant today as well, even for technical writing (The article was written 60 years ago. I mean, he wrote it 60 years ago :). It actually looks more like a list of bad things to avoid, where these bad things creep in without our actually being aware of them.

The article actually starts off on a more interesting note (i.e., more interesting, I think, than just "writing better English"). It talks about how language and thought affect each other, how poor language stints our thoughts, and vice-versa.
"It (The English language) becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts"

The article lists six simple rules to writing good English:

(i) Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.

(ii) Never us a long word where a short one will do.

(iii) If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

(iv) Never use the passive where you can use the active.

(v) Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

(vi) Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

Another interesting quote: "In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible. Things like the continuance of British rule in India, the Russian purges and deportations, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, can indeed be defended, but only by arguments which are too brutal for most people to face, and which do not square with the professed aims of the political parties."

Indiauncut, btw, regularly lists examples of bad writing from TOI, Hindustan Times, and others. And they tend to be invariably very amusing. As Amit Verma would say, "Immense purplocity and verniness ensues"