atw: Re: Issues or problems?
- From: Michael Lewis <michael.lewis@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: austechwriter@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2012 11:08:34 +1100
I've just looked at the "difference between" site that Howard cited.
Like Howard, I don't buy it. It possibly does reflect the mindset of a
lot of marketing types, but I don't think it reflects the more general
usage of the populace at large. But unlike Howard I do think that the
general usage does embody a difference.
Michael Lewis
Department of Linguistics
Macquarie University
On 12 November 2012 11:47, Howard Silcock <howard.silcock@xxxxxxxxx> 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.
>
> 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 is starting to
> seem unstoppable. Our help desks are there to respond to our 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 ‘personally’ is another affectation, but let’s not go there
> now).
>
> 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.
>
> 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.
>
> Howard
>
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