issues; the X from Hell

[Charles Doyle]

Similar to psychobabblish "issue" is the pejoration or adapting of the word "situation" to mean 'crisis, dangerious development'. When I first started noticing that usage on TV cop shows a few years ago, it seemed like (maybe) a ploy to sound un-panicky in an urgent radio or telephone transmission.

(Has this already been discussed here?)

--Charlie
_______________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 09:21:40 -0800
>From: "Arnold M. Zwicky" <zwicky at CSLI.STANFORD.EDU>
>Subject: issues; the X from Hell
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>the latest Funny Times (Dec. 2006) has an excerpt (p. 18) from Jon Winokur's Encyclopedia Neurotica (2004), with two items  of local interest:
>
>1. the entry:
>
>issues

>Grade-A _psychobabble_ for what used to be called "problems."
>
>arnold

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