Its really incredible when you sit down and think about but off the top of my mind I can think of at least 2 words that entered into common use thanks to this book (thought police, big brother). Now these may predate the book but I do think they were popularized by it. If anyone can think of anything else I would be impressed.

I know I've heard doublethink floating around... I think it's used in psych discussions mostly.

The impact of the book om the English language is not just in individual words, like doublespeak or thought police, but in capturing the damage that both abstract usage and political demands were making on language itself. Orwell once made the point in one of his essays that one could tell the veracity of a politician's speech by whether or not the reverse of the statement was absurb, or meaningless. For example , if a particular politician says that he is for "family values", that opposite of that is to say that he is against family values. That is absurd. The further point of Newspeak, the language that Orwell adapted from newspaper headline language for the novel, is that language is to be drained of all meaning itself, so as to render it more suitable for machine gun-like bursts of propaganda or hatred. Think of the sound-bites that dominate media coverage of modern elections, or the bumper-sticker style of political exchange.

Not sure if this is what you're looking for, but I just finished browsing through a book called The Science in Science Fiction (browsing since I attempted reading and much of it was too far over my head). The book is all about ideas, concepts, and terms that were first introduced in science fiction novels, stories, etc- such as television, the internet, atomic warfare, black holes, etc which have since become a reality, are close to becoming a reality, or with new breakthrough seem like they could possibly become a reality. Anyways, there's a part in there about big brother. This book mentions that Ayn Rand's novel "Anthem" first really discussed the idea. Also of course is Ray Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451"
As a point to reference how it's becoming a reality it mentions RFID tags and companies selling your information to telemarketers and direct marketing companies among many others.

Hey Megan was that the title's exact name? I was looking for it but couldn't find it and it sounds really interesting.

The theory advanced in 1984 is a very strong form of the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis (briefly, that a person or culture is influenced by their language, initially based on the supposed difference between Native Americans and Europeans, such as the Hopi not having any concept of time because they lack the words for it, and therefore being unsuitable for many jobs as they supposedly can't keep to a timetable). This theory in its strong form is now discredited, but it is still important to remember how the language used by those in power affects the way we think about certain things - John Humphreys wrote a chapter on it in his book 'Lost for words' which, although I didn't like all of it, had some interesting points. Lots of discussion about the language surrounding the 'war on terror'.

Laura, I think the idea behind 1984 was not just that those in power would use language to determine how we would think, but that rather those in power would so constrict language as to deny it, outside of the most basic demands (eating, sleeping,simple emotions), any meaning whatsoever. The Newspeak word 'duckspeak' captures the point perfectl: to use duckspeak is to speak in such a manner as to eliminate the need to think whatsoever, catch-phrases and slogans can roll off the duckspeaker's tongue without engaging the higher thought processes at all. Orwell listened to enough left wing speakers in his time to realize the manipulative power of a series of phrases that could follow one another in rapid-fire fashion: running-dog lackey of imperialist, ganster elements comes to mind." Knee-jerk liberal traitor secular humanist scum" comes to mind from right-wing bloviators in this country.

Adam, you should read "Politics and the English Language," an essay by George Orwell. In it, he delineates many of his ideas that led to writing 1984. If you liked 1984, you should also like this essay.

Amen, Grant! That's probably the best of Orwell's essays. By the way, yesterday was the 57th anniversary of his death. I think he was only 46.

I think everyone that has replied here needs to read Homage To Catalonia. It is by far superior to 1984 in all aspects on writing, and through Homage to Catalonia one actually gets to know Orwell's political belief, and not to mention his fantastic writing.