I describe a distinctive form of manipulative communication that I call Orwellian communication, and the speech act characteristic of it: pied-piping. In pied-piping, a speaker strategically chooses and utters words that are descriptively impoverished but morally valenced, and does so with the intention of getting an audience to agree with them, and so undertake a certain course of action. However, in uttering terms with these features, the pied-piper does not intend to communicate any particular proposition or range of propositions. Rather, the pied-piper exploits variation in an audience's interpretation of a term, along with audience's background evaluative commitments, in order to manufacture agreement, and so prompt action. Thus, I call the intentions involved in pied-piping purely manipulative linguistic intentions; Orwellian communication occurs when such intentions are realized. Purely manipulative linguistic intentions are essentially hidden -- recognition of these intentions by an audience prevents them from being realized. It follows that in Orwellian communication, the speaker does not speaker-mean or assert anything with her utterance. I then discuss connections between pied-piping, dog whistling, sloganeering, and various forms of propaganda.

NB: Tea starts at 15:15...there will be tim tams....