Our culture has recently dipped into a new low when it comes to the context of our words. One could blame Twitter or the general dumbing down of literature or reality TV, but the sad implication of our times is that society has largely grown intellectually lazy. This is hugely important to understand, because, like it or not we still communicate predominantly with words. Emoji simply cannot express the full range of our experience, and even if they could, eventually it would be clear that they are still just avatars for words or expressions and our verbal language still matters.

But why does terminology matter so much?

Let us examine one word so often used to describe the cancer patient who is living beyond his or her treatment and consider why it is so insidious: survivor.
Continue reading Language Is Your Enemy: Why Terminology Matters →