When did "problems" become "issues?"

[Deep13]

I think of an issue as being a point of contention, not the underlying probelm iteself. The problem is lack of access to health care. The issue is how to solve that problem.

So I find it odd when people speak of problems as issues. It seems this jargon is especially popular in discussing mental health. Is this some kind of PC euphemism so that sick people can pretend they are not as bad as they might otherwise imagine themselves to be?

[meow2u3]

1. "Issues" is of poltical origin

Sadly, the word crept into everyday usage. :puke: Personally, I prefer the term "troubles" to "issues."

AFAIC, problems are unwelcome matters in need of a solution and issues are topics for debate--two separate concepts altogether.

[raccoon]

2. I noticed this jargon too (who hasn't)--also when did difficulties become challenges?

Some time ago, I think.

[david13]

3. Problems become issues when they are debated. dc

[Deep13]

4. Sure, but people use the term to describe medical and psychological...

disorders too.

[david13]

8. Loose language. Ain't nothin wrong with it. All part of a free country. dc

[Kali]

5. I have an issue with the way you issued that question.

I think it started in the 80s along with a bunch of other self-indulgent jargon.

[old mark]

6. When did rain become a "precipitation event"? Our local weather guy LOVES

to use terms like this, and we love to watch him for laughs...at his overblown verbiage as well as his very tight and too small suits.
Some days he looks like he is wearing his college graduation suit.

mark

[MorningGlow]

10. When did "overcast" become a noun?

Hate that one. Hate it hate it hate it. :banghead:

[old mark]

14. MG, perhaps a bit less caffiene....just a bit less........

;)

mark

[MorningGlow]

15. NoooOOoooo!

I am a writer and editor. It's not the caffeine, it's the profession. :banghead: Okay, maybe it's both. :P

[old mark]

16. Writers seem to need the heavy fuel to get that.....morning glow.....

:hi:


mark

[Dulcinea]

7. It's corporate-speak.

A challenge is something to be overcome, & difficulty implies that overcoming something may not happen.

A problem involves a solution when there may not be a solution, & an issue can be resolved. So yes, I think it's a PC euphemism too.

[theNotoriousP.I.G.]

9. About the same time "Inner Child" got up and running

Thanks John Bradshaw!

[pitohui]

18. that was the late 80s (new age era)

haven't thought of the inner child in years but all that inner child and how the inner child was molested by devil worshippers in recovered memory sessions, yeah, that was all part of it

[Sanity Claws]

11. around 2000

I remember when an acquaintance said she had lower back issues. I laughed because it sounded so funny to me; it was the first time I had ever heard of "issues" to mean problems. She seemed offended by my laughter. Sorry. I really thought she was making a joke.

She was a counselor and, my guess, is that kind of phrasing is common among them.

[Mike 03]

12. I thought problems were "opportunities" courtesy of lessons from Japan's business community

Japan's emphasis on Total Quality Management came to the U.S. in the 90s, and that is when I was first exposed to this erasure of the concept of "Problems." Problems ceased to exist and became Opportunities.

[Forkboy]

13. Right around that 9th beer.

[pitohui]

17. in 1986

i can't believe this is still being discussed, oprah is about to retire after 25 years of problems being issues

it probably really started in the 1970s with betty ford, it used to be you had a drinking problem and you hid it, or you had breast cancer and you hid it, so i guess it's something else we can blame on the republicans, because they made whining legitimate altho as republicans go betty ford was actually pretty decent

i don't agree w. problems being issues and whining being legitimate, i believe in denial and a stiff upper lip, but be that as it may...it's been 1976 or 1986 for a few decades now so i'm puzzled that this would surprise anyone who hasn't been in a coma for a few centuries

[woo me with science]

19. "Issue" used to mean "children,"

so, yes, the proper synonym is "problems." :evilgrin:

[applegrove]

20. Around 1993.

[LoZoccolo]

21. I recall that around 1996 or 1997, someone pointed out to me that Dr. Drew said it often.

It seemed unusual then.

[Gormy Cuss]

22. Problem sounds so negative. Issue doesn't....

or at least it didn't before it became a euphemism for "problem." Now people have problems with the word 'issue.' ;-)