I'm just all skippy happy seeing how normal words are having their meanings being changed out of political correctness or out of trying to be saccharine tutti-fruity "positive."

These days, everybody is a FRIEND....but never an acquaintance...

FRIEND (noun)
1. A person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
2. A person whom one knows
3. A person with whom one is allied in a struggle or cause; a comrade.
4. One who supports, sympathizes with, or patronizes a group, cause, or movement: friends of the clean air movement.

ACQUAINTANCE (noun)
1. Knowledge of a person acquired by a relationship less intimate than friendship.
2. A relationship based on such knowledge: struck up an acquaintance with our new neighbor.
3. A person whom one knows.
4. Knowledge or information about something or someone: has a passing acquaintance with Chinese history.


Or everything is an "issue" -- not a "problem." A computer doesn't start or crashes -- then it is always an "issue." A person has cancer and then it becomes somehow lessened when the idiom "health issue" is used. Or maybe it should be a "health situation." Or maybe when you have flat tire things suddenly become an "issue" with the car as though getting stuck on the side of a freeway is being made somewhat more pleasant.

ISSUE (noun)
1. A point or matter of discussion, debate, or dispute: legal and moral issues.
2. A matter of public concern: debated economic issues.
3. A misgiving, objection, or complaint: had issues with the plan to change the curriculum.
4. The essential point; crux: the issue of how to provide adequate child care.
5. A culminating point leading to a decision: bring a case to an issue.

PROBLEM (noun)
1. A question to be considered, solved, or answered: math problems; the problem of how to arrange transportation.
2. A situation, matter, or person that presents perplexity or difficulty: was having problems breathing; considered the main problem to be his boss. See Usage Note at
3. A misgiving, objection, or complaint: I have a problem with his cynicism.

(adjective)
1. Difficult to deal with or control: a problem child.
2. Dealing with a moral or social problem: a problem play.


The funniest thing was when a person of "African American" descent got mad at me when I didn't refer to him as a "black" American. Or how supposedly one can't use the word "oriental" in referring to a person from Asia without getting their knickers all bloodied.