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Concerning usage
Apr. 8th, 2020 08:24 pmCall me old-fashioned, but when I use the word concerning I mean 'regarding, having to do with...' and my Chambers dictionary agrees with me. I dislike the current use to mean 'giving cause fir cincern, wirrying'. It annoyed me when I first heard it, and it annoys me more now that the nature of the news provides constant opportunities for its use. I heard it twice within 40 minutes on the Today programme this morning.
I think what I particularly dislike - apart from the obvious fact that it is Wrong, that that word does not mean that - is that it is used euphemistically, to avoid using words like 'worrying' or even 'alarming'. Don't be worried, don't be alarmed, just be concerned. In my mind's ear, that 'concerned' is spoken in the low, sodt, caring voice that Margaret Thatcher learned to use, and it makes me feel patronised and lied to.
Perhaps I'm overreacting here.
I think what I particularly dislike - apart from the obvious fact that it is Wrong, that that word does not mean that - is that it is used euphemistically, to avoid using words like 'worrying' or even 'alarming'. Don't be worried, don't be alarmed, just be concerned. In my mind's ear, that 'concerned' is spoken in the low, sodt, caring voice that Margaret Thatcher learned to use, and it makes me feel patronised and lied to.
Perhaps I'm overreacting here.
