[ExI] Language Changing Before Our Very Eyes

[Jef Allbright]

On 5/21/07, PJ Manney <pjmanney at gmail.com> wrote:
> <sigh>
> I don't know why I rise to this bait...

Same here.  I must have issues.  ;-)


> > Isn't it true that "issues" has
> > very recently become a euphemism for "problems"?   Moreover,
> > is it true that this use of "issues" has decended from bureaucratic
> > techno-speak?   Seems that way to me.
>
> "Issues" is psychobabble-therapy speak for "problems."  It has the
> appropriate non-judgmental flavor that therapists prefer when
> describing a behavior they hope they never have themselves.

While I completely agree with your point here I think there is more to
it, and that is bleed-over from various professions that from a very
practical point of view are dealing with issues that others would or
should better describe as problems.

Directing a technical support center, I emphatically encouraged the
use of "issue" referring to any event related to a customer asking for
information, advice, or yes, even a problem.  From our point of view
each issue was an opportunity to satisfy or better yet, please the
customer.  (Which is never to deny that the customer perceived a
problem.)

In the world of personal relations I tend toward similar usage such as
"I have a problem", "She has a problem", and "We have some issues to
resolve" with the context determining whether the emphasis is on the
subjective feeling of injury or the more objective problem solving
mode.

Disclaimer:  I am not expert in personal relations, tending to
dispassionately analyze and synthesize while being insufficiently
nurturing. (In case that isn't obvious from my posts.)

If we have any native Chinese-speakers on the list, I'd like to know
their cultural take on this issue, er, question, given the well-known
fact that the Chinese character for crisis is a compound of danger and
opportunity.

- Jef