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

[Dennis During]

In popular usage doesn't it mean
1. what DSM calls "bipolar" and
2. "having conflicting/contradictory intent/function/appearance"

On Wed, Sep 14, 2022, 7:13 AM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu> wrote:

> Yeah, Chris is correct.  I'm a busier person than most of the people on
> this list, and I sometimes hastily make postings that are half-baked or
> less-than-half-baked.
>
> Now I realize that the "popular" sense of "schizophrenia" /
> "schizophrenic" is broader than "split personality" and involves
> contradictoriness more generally.  I also realize that Merriam-Webster does
> cover this sense, and that the OED covers it in the entry on
> "schizophrenic."  My one point that is valid is that the OED entry for
> "schizophrenia" does not explicitly define the popular sense (although it
> is implied in some of the OED's "transferred" citations).
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET>
> Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2022 10:52 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Re: Neglected Popular Sense of "Schizophrenia" and "Schizophrenic"
>
> On Tue, Sep 13, 2022 at 6:34 PM Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at yale.edu>
> wrote:
>
> > 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.
> >
>
> 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.)
>
> Chris
>
> --
> Chris Waigl . chris.waigl at gmail.com . chris at lascribe.net
>
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