words matter

A simplistic explanation of Hong Kong’s anorexia surge—along with koro and hysterical fugue—would be that mental illness is always and everywhere a case of social contagion. That’s wrong. What we call worry and sadness are universal human traits, and many psychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, show up around the world. Watters’s most

Much of modern business language comes from the military and carries a worldview of hierarchy, command, territory, enemies. We crush competitors. We fight for market share. We attack new segments. We mobilise teams. Someone wins. Someone loses. Someone is sacrificed. But ⁠

“Linguistically, a duvet day feels gentle and generous, while rotting in bed conjures up a sense of decay, of life collapsing in on itself. Bed rotting doesn’t shy away from the sticky experience of staying in the same clothes all day or the lethargy that can come from lying down for hours on end.”

The grossness is the point — because, as O’Sullivan

The problem with the machine as a metaphor is that it is claustrophobic; all that passes through and out of it is accounted for by a precise and unrelenting algebra

is it mere coincidence that these terms move further away from their specific usage and towards a neutered, politically neutral meaning?

People with other such complex chronic diseases, and of course cancer, also read and hear their experiences referred to as “journeys” by well-meaning sympathizers. The treacly word triggers my gag reflex, and I’m far from alone.