The Use Of Words

I sometimes wonder just how much I am out of step with modern society. So many things seem to be wrong yet nothing that is likely to achieve an improvement ever actually gets done and there are no avenues of protest. It is possible to complain to one's MP but most of the time it is a complete waste of time. Some of the things that upset me are not things I can really complain about to anyone, but they upset me nevertheless. My latest upset is the misuse of words.

Was it American presidential candidate Warren G Harding who started the present sloppy use of words? I suspect that the answer is no. His great contribution was to invent a new word to replace an already existing and perfectly acceptable word. Anxious to get America out of its involvement with Europe and World War I he demanded a return to normalcy. What was wrong with the word normality?

Right back in my school days I was told that disinterested did not mean uninterested. It does nowadays. The words are now almost inter-changeable. A referee should be disinterested but one would hope that he is not uninterested.

Now the word colleague seems to be undergoing some kind of transformation. To me a colleague is someone with whom I work or who worked for me. Now the word seems to have come to mean any member of staff. "If you have any questions, please contact a colleague." we are advised in many a shop. But a colleague of whom? The Managing Director? The Store Manager? I just don't know. Do they really mean, ".... please contact a member of staff?"

Perhaps it is inevitable in a World that thinks that Tony Blair is the man to bring peace to the Middle East; that Gordon Brown is the man to head the International Monetary Fund; and that Barak Obama is the right man to be President of the United States - even if he doesn't quite know what day it is.

/