LANGUAGE CORNER
'Issues'
Taking Issue
Through his pain, Robert Brown found a bit of humor.
“One day will you please address the ‘issue/problem’ issue (er, problem),” his note said. “In my dictionary, I don’t see ‘problem’ as a definition for ‘issue.’ Everyone is using ‘issue’ in a problematic way (when will there be ‘issuematic?’).”
The e-mail from Mr. Brown — who said he lives in New York City, owns an art gallery, and writes about gastronomy on the side — touched a nerve. Most fads are ignorable, but the “issue” fad has been as sweeping as any in memory. The word is used in countless sloppy ways. A weatherman warns of “cloudiness issues.” A sports announcer notes a team’s “penalty issues.” And from the print world: “health issues, such as high blood sugar”; the college whose chief, according to a news article, “wants the mold issue resolved”; radio stations that “bombarded their listeners with the issue.”
As a standard-English alternative to the wimpy “issue,” we should certainly consider the straightforward “problem.” Or “concern” or “weakness” or “question” or “topic” or “matter” or . . .
— CJR, March/April 2006
