Issues

Is an issue more serious than a problem? Has issue nudged problem out of the everyday lexicon? I wonder about this because recently I bought a Skype phone, the kind you plug into your computer so you can use a wireless Internet connection to make cheap calls while on the move.

It doesn’t work on two separate computers, causing several OS problems, so I check some discussion threads, and find several users reporting the same experience, so I uninstall it and take it back to the shop. I see the assistant who sold me the phone. “This phone, it has a problem.”

The assistant looks at me up and down. “The phone has a problem you say?” he says with an expression as if to say, “Well, that’s YOUR problem, mate.”

So I elaborate. “I checked on the Internet and several users reported ISSUES with the phone.”

Then this assistant straightens up and adjusts his glasses. “Issues? It has issues? That’s serious. We’ll take it back. Refund you, no problem.”

Pretty much like that. What caused the attitude shift? I hadn’t run outside and put on a necktie or anything. I’d just substituted the word “problem” for “issue” and added a reference to the Internet. Maybe I had started speaking his language.

Speaking other languages?

Following conversation takes place between Monica Dickens and an Australian woman, at a book signing in Australia, November, 1964:

Australian Woman: Emma Chissit.

Monica Dickens, thinking that is the woman’s name, writes: "To Emma

Chissit" inside the book.
Australian: (speaking slowly and emphatically): No, emmachissit?

(in Strine, emmachissit = How much is it?)

Monica Dickens 1915-1992