>>>>>>It's probably historical: some languages got used to hidden sense and implicit talk. I am not a linguistic expert, so I could be wrong, but it might be that Russian language is the most double-speak phenomenon in this area.
>>>>>
>>>>>What about (ouch, forgot the exact name) of the language in "1984"? I read it recently in English.
>>>>
>>>>Isn't it "Newspeak"?
>>>>
>>>
>>>Exactly. I was going to write it and something stopped me in the middle.
>>>
>>>>That expression is hijacked today "Oh, downsizing is newspeak for 'laying people off'"
>>>>
>>>>Just as in "1984" they had "Minitrue" (the Ministry of Truth - in effect lies) nowadays we have the MetPol for London's Metropolitan Police.
>>>>
>>>>Incidentally, recently on a BBC telethon day, the woman who's presented the Big Brother reality show in UK since its start was asked, in a quiz, "Who is the leader of Oceania?" ... and she had no idea.
>>>>
>>>>Similarly many people bandy about the expression "Catch-22" without ever having read the book or really knowing what one is. That annoys me.
>>>
>>>Honestly I could not read Catch-22. I took it from the library and brought back. I also tried recently to read Takkerey (?) "Vanity Fear" or Bradberry (?) and I brought them back unopened. Ever lack of time or something, don't know.
>>
>>Catch-22 is one of my most oft-read books and one of the funniest and my favourites.
>>Our English teacher in school counselled us that you sometimes have to put some effort into a book, at least for the 1st chapter, to get something out.
>>
>
>Joseph Heller also wrote "Something Happened," which is unfunny in the extreme but very good IMO. It is narrated in the first person and the narrator tells us one thing, then in parentheses what he really thinks. "Of course I still love you, honey. (I don't)."

Interesting. I loved "Catch 22" - one of my favourite books (excellent movie too), but "Something Happened" struck me as one of the more boring books I've picked up. I kept waiting for something to happen, and was consistently disappointed.

Another of my faves - John Barth, wrote my all time favourite novel - "The Sot Weed Factor" (imho, one of the great achievments in English literature), but he also wrote one of my alltime least favourites - "Chimera" (which incidentally won some awards - so what do I know).

Just proves you can't always just bank on the author's name.