This word has been blipping on my word radar recently: problematic.From CBC's 'Ideas' last night: "This formulation of a 'spirit-based' tolerance is problematic."
Overheard at a UBC bar: "He has a problematic relationship with alcohol."
It's a usable word, I suppose—as good as worrisome, uncertain, or dangerous. And if my ear is right, it's now in critical vogue. But there's something I don't like about it.
I think it's that it steers the sentence toward thick nouns and adjectives; the verb is almost certain to be mute.
Thoughts?
(Alf, please skip.)
2 comments:
Check your OED for the nuances. And the noun form. You can, I'm sure, imagine for yourself the factions that support the various uses of the word.
I don't like it because a lot of times pop media just leaves it at that. Whatever it is, it's problematic. They do not say how or why or for whom . . . Obscures more than it tells.
B. n. Sociol. Something that constitutes a problem, or an area of difficulty in a particular field of study.
The noun form strikes me as less annoying, although of course less broadly useful. My complaint is the same as your: problematic is a hedge, usually.
Which factions do you see as being most enthusiastic about it?
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