People in academia love using fancy words that don’t really have significant meanings. Binaries. Othering. Spaces. Postmodern. Privileging. All these and more are ridiculous words that rely on lack of clarity to sound important, and if they mean anything at all, could be replaced by more common language so that regular people might understand what these linguistic snobs are talking about. Sometimes these academics even flat out make up words, such as “diagendered” (not a dictionary word, yet used in a book by one of my former professors) or they like to co-opt terms from another field, when they know virtually nothing about that field (e.g. most people who employ terms of psychoanalytic literary criticism know nothing about the actual science of psychology; the same goes for anything related to economics).
One of most common useless words people trying to sound smart like to throw around is “problematic.” It has become a catch-all in recent years for anyone on the verge of complaining about something they may or may not actually know anything about. It’s just, somehow, potentially bothersome...to someone, somewhere...maybe. I like how Urban Dictionary describes its vagueness as something people think might be a problem “but don't want to do any actual thinking about what the problem is or why it exists.”
I recently discovered a website devoted entirely to this silly word, and it has become an instant favorite. Everything’s a Problem is one of the few blogs that makes me laugh out loud with nearly every updated post. These days, every topic is subject to complaint. And the fact that not everyone else knows it’s worth complaining about is worth complaining about. If someone is bothered, we all should be bothered! Take a look at the long list of popular culture topics the site tackles with dripping sarcasm and a disapproving tone that questions your caring for humanity. This week, there is a post about MMA superstar Ronda Rousey, IHOP, and Halloween costumes, but some of my other favorite problematics include feminism and free speech, “Netflix and chill” (I had to look that one up), and why Peyton Manning commercials are homophobic.
With stern shakes of the head from the problematic rating system, nothing is off limits here. Beware of lots of adult language and millennial lingo, but humor abounds and social critique knows no escape from the site’s tongue-in-cheek take on oversensitivity and faux outrage. Take a look.
One of most common useless words people trying to sound smart like to throw around is “problematic.” It has become a catch-all in recent years for anyone on the verge of complaining about something they may or may not actually know anything about. It’s just, somehow, potentially bothersome...to someone, somewhere...maybe. I like how Urban Dictionary describes its vagueness as something people think might be a problem “but don't want to do any actual thinking about what the problem is or why it exists.”
I recently discovered a website devoted entirely to this silly word, and it has become an instant favorite. Everything’s a Problem is one of the few blogs that makes me laugh out loud with nearly every updated post. These days, every topic is subject to complaint. And the fact that not everyone else knows it’s worth complaining about is worth complaining about. If someone is bothered, we all should be bothered! Take a look at the long list of popular culture topics the site tackles with dripping sarcasm and a disapproving tone that questions your caring for humanity. This week, there is a post about MMA superstar Ronda Rousey, IHOP, and Halloween costumes, but some of my other favorite problematics include feminism and free speech, “Netflix and chill” (I had to look that one up), and why Peyton Manning commercials are homophobic.
With stern shakes of the head from the problematic rating system, nothing is off limits here. Beware of lots of adult language and millennial lingo, but humor abounds and social critique knows no escape from the site’s tongue-in-cheek take on oversensitivity and faux outrage. Take a look.