Among other annoyances, I’d like to take issue with the misuse of the word,”issue,” when the appropriate word should be, “problem.” Yes, I do have a problem with you if you have fallen into the trap of using “issue” do describe every malfunction, machine, technical, or human related that you encounter.
When your car has a flat you don’t have a “tire issue;” you have a problem. At issue is how you will manage to pay for having the problem resolved. You don’t have an issue with someone else you have a problem. “Issue” is what flows from your mouth, perhaps creating the problem to begin with. “Issue” has become miserably over-used, in part due to the rampant spread of pop-psychology and its unholy merger with corporate motivational speakers hired to convince over-worked and underpaid employees that magical thinking will make them happy while working in a bad job for bad employers.
“Pop” is another word I no longer need to hear. “Pop” is a mildly explosive sound, not an action taken by some color, taste, or sound to convince the masses that they should buy it. If a color pops, the fabric or material involved is likely being over-heated.
The combination of “biz-speak,” “pop-psych/motivational-speak, and the growing use of texting abbreviations as words, English as a language is under a multi-directional assault that may result in English losing ground to a patois of grammatical errors, misspelled words, and misused words that render the language of Shakespeare and other great writers no longer intelligible to the youngest generation of U.S, residents.
We’ll come back to this again. Almost certainly, Palin will utter some gibberish while reminding us that she studied journalism and knows how to communicate. She may well be able to reach her fans on an emotional and religious level. However, her acquaintance with English as a language of skilled communications is non-existent.
Time to light the fire.
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