atw: Re: Issues or problems?
- From: Michael Lewis <michael.lewis@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 10:50:09 +1100
"Issue" has been in use for at least 20 years. I have items in my research
files like "let me know if you have any issues" dating back to 1993. It
isn't quite a synonym for "problem" - at least, not always - although it's
close. It seems to mean "things that might or might not turn out to be
problems when we look more closely".
Michael Lewis
Department of Linguistics
Macquarie University
On 13 November 2012 10:13, Nebauer, Mark
<Mark.Nebauer@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> I agree with Kath: “...there are no such things as problems, only
> opportunities. ‘Problem’ has become a bad word…”****
>
> ** **
>
> Problems is just too damn defeatist in this age that is saturated with
> can-do-isms. It’s not going to go away in a hurry so I suggest we go with
> it.****
>
> ** **
>
> *Mark Nebauer *
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:
> austechwriter-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Bob Trussler
> *Sent:* Monday, 12 November 2012 10:42 PM
> *To:* austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* atw: Re: Issues or problems?****
>
> ** **
>
> Do you need some tissues for your issues?
>
> That's a schoolyard joke.
> Bob T****
>
> On 12 November 2012 16:12, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:****
>
> I suppose ITIL could have had an influence. But 'issue' isn't really the
> same as 'incident'. It may be true, though, that ITIL has given 'problem' a
> technical meaning (the root cause of an incident), which could be why some
> people avoid using the term. (It hasn't stopped people from saying 'not a
> problem' when you thank them for doing something. I wonder if that's going
> to metamorphose into 'not an issue'!)****
>
> Howard****
>
> ** **
>
> On 12 November 2012 13:54, Anne Casey <writan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:****
>
> Sounds to me like they've borrowed from ITIL, where an Incident is a
> one-off (insufficient application of chicken entrails to get the software
> to work), and a Problem is where there is an actual pattern of incidents,
> worthy of investigation (should we package up the software with more
> chicken entrails, to reduce calls?).
>
> I think people have taken the very pragmatic approach of ITIL - get the
> person going now, and decide later if there is a pattern - and used it as a
> general cop-out.
>
> How unusual.
>
> /anne...
>
> At 11:47 AM 12/11/2012, you wrote:
>
> ****
>
> I find it hard to believe that we haven’t discussed this before here,
> but does anyone else have a problem with how the word ‘issue’ is being
> used (particularly, but not only, in the ICT milieu)? It’s really
> starting to get on my nerves.
> Â
> I just did a search and found there are many people complaining about how
> ‘issue’ is used when we really mean ‘problem’, but the usage isÂ
> starting to seem unstoppable. Our help desks are there to respond to ourÂ
> *issues* with software or hardware or whatever, our software developes
> maintain ‘issue registers’, and our politicians say ‘I personally
> have an *issue* with …’ (adding the word ‘personallyâ’ is another
> affectation, but let’s not go there now).
> Â
> My search turned up one page
> (http://www.differencebetween.net/language/difference-between-issue-and-problem/)
> that claims there’s a real difference in meaning, but I don’t buy it.
> Â
> I have just been editing a page and replacing every ‘issue’ with
> something else (not always ‘problem’), but am wondering if I’d better
> give it up as a lost cause.
> Â
> Howard****
>
> ** **
>
>
>
>
> --
> Bob Trussler****
>
>
>
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