[Ads-l] Neglected Popular Sense of "Schizophrenia" and "Schizophrenic"

[Peter Reitan]

I'm shocked! SHOCKED!!! That the popular understanding of something differs from the technical understanding of it in a  profession or field of study.
________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 8:33:40 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Neglected Popular Sense of "Schizophrenia" and "Schizophrenic"

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU>
Subject:      Re: Neglected Popular Sense of "Schizophrenia" and
              "Schizophrenic"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AHD5 has this somewhat censorious Usage Note:

Usage Note: Mental health advocates point out that the figurative use of =
schizophrenic to mean =E2=80=9Cdisplaying disparate or antagonistic =
elements=E2=80=9D arises from misconceptions about schizophrenia and =
that this figurative use impedes efforts to educate the public about =
schizophrenia.
=20
When I was growing up and first becoming acquainted with the term, I did =
indeed gather it referred to split personality or what I later learned =
should be called multiple personality disorder.  This would have been in =
the 1950s. Webster=E2=80=99s NID3 (1961) has =E2=80=9Csplit =
personality=E2=80=9D as the second sense for =E2=80=9Cschizophrenia=E2=80=9D=
 after the (much longer) psychiatrically correct (at the time) first =
sense. =20

LH


> On Sep 13, 2022, at 10:52 PM, Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET> wrote:
>=20
> On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 6:34 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> =
wrote:
>=20
>> Both OED and Merriam-Webster seem to completely neglect an extremely
>> widespread popular sense of the words "schizophrenia" and =
"schizophrenic."
>> This sense is the meaning "split personality."  Although that meaning =
is
>> scientifically incorrect, I believe that, at least in the U.S., it is =
the
>> predominant popular definition.
>>=20
>=20
> I'm not sure what you mean by this, outside some rather dated =
fictional
> stories along the lines of Dr. Jekyll & Mr Hyde or Hitchcock's Psycho. =
In
> common contemporary parlance I think the predominant popular =
definition is
> more along the lines of "jarringly paradoxical" or "internally
> contradictory". (I base this purely on anecdote-level personal =
observation,
> not scientific research - disclaimer.)
>=20
> Chris
>=20
> --=20
> Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
> http://eggcorns.lascribe.net . http://chryss.eu
>=20
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org