Problematic Usage
"Rice said the resolution would be 'very problematic for everything that we're trying to do in the Middle East because..." --from the news article linked here
It would be good if Secretary Rice could stop using that word "problematic" of which she is so fond. It is a recent barbarism. It does not fill a felt need. We got along without it very well, for a very long time. Perhaps she could start by considering such obvious conceivable replacements as "unhelpful" or "likely to complicate matters" or "will make matters worse" or "make things more difficult" or "pose problems" or some such. Inattention, or insufficient attention, to words reflects inattention to other things, says something about her entire mental make-up.
Posted on 10/11/2007 8:51 AM by Hugh Fitzgerald
