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A quibble: A 1983 Webster's Collegiate gives the definition of problematic as "1: a. difficult to settle or decide b. not definite or settled c. open to questi

by cafard 2y ago

A quibble: A 1983 Webster's Collegiate gives the definition of problematic as "1: a. difficult to settle or decide b. not definite or settled c. open to question or debate 2: expressing or supporting a possibility". (Bold type, proffered synonyms, and examples omitted.) The sense of "problematic" as in "you've got a problem" developed after 1968, perhaps after 1990.

rpdillon 2y ago
I had no idea, thanks for pointing this out! I'm mostly frustrated with the modern usage, usually when used in reference to someone or some entity's behavior. Every time I hear it I want to understand what exactly the issue is. So if I go back and reread the quote that I had posted, is the critique that the public's tastes are not fixed, and change across geography and time? I'm still not sure what he was really getting at, I guess.
- d1sxeyes 2y ago
  > This is the fault of the sound engineers, who subsequently engage in fundamentally quite unmusical procedures by surgically extracting these voices, which is quite in keeping with their—if I may say this—unartistic intuitions and is also congenial to the highly problematic taste of the public. This sentence scores as 'extremely difficult' or 'difficult' on most readability scores, and it's just unnecessarily flowery. Basically, I think the point is that the idea of the 'taste of the public' is just a shorthand for 'something that appeals to lots of people with differing tastes'. The author's key point (I think) is that 'engineering' music somehow makes it less artistic, and the 'problematic taste of the public' is a tangent which explores why sound engineers do what they do, rather than being part of the main argument.
  - cafard 2y ago
    > This sentence scores as 'extremely difficult' or 'difficult' on most readability scores, and it's just unnecessarily flowery. It was written for the Paris Review subscribers of 1968. I imagine that they found little difficulty in understanding it.
    - d1sxeyes 2y ago
      It was adapted from an interview which took place with Der Spiegel, so I guess it was originally in German, although I haven't found the original. My guess would be there are less complicated translations, but I might be wrong. Regardless, I think you're right, the target audience of this as it's written probably would not have issues understanding it.
vundercind 2y ago
I don’t recall encountering the latest usage until the mid-2010s.
solardev 2y ago
I think the common modern usage of that word is kinda an euphemism for "yucky because they're not woke enough". I've never seen it used outside that context, personally...
- dpig_ 2y ago
  Caricaturing progressive ideas as some linear scale of 0 - Not Woke, 10 - Wokest is such a lame way to avoid the real points being made on a given subject.
- amanaplanacanal 2y ago
  If by “not woke enough” you mean racist, sexist, or homophobic, that what I usually assume too.

by cafard 2y ago

rpdillon 2y ago

I had no idea, thanks for pointing this out! I'm mostly frustrated with the modern usage, usually when used in reference to someone or some entity's behavior. Every time I hear it I want to understand what exactly the issue is. So if I go back and reread the quote that I had posted, is the critique that the public's tastes are not fixed, and change across geography and time? I'm still not sure what he was really getting at, I guess.

d1sxeyes 2y ago
> This is the fault of the sound engineers, who subsequently engage in fundamentally quite unmusical procedures by surgically extracting these voices, which is quite in keeping with their—if I may say this—unartistic intuitions and is also congenial to the highly problematic taste of the public. This sentence scores as 'extremely difficult' or 'difficult' on most readability scores, and it's just unnecessarily flowery. Basically, I think the point is that the idea of the 'taste of the public' is just a shorthand for 'something that appeals to lots of people with differing tastes'. The author's key point (I think) is that 'engineering' music somehow makes it less artistic, and the 'problematic taste of the public' is a tangent which explores why sound engineers do what they do, rather than being part of the main argument.
- cafard 2y ago
  > This sentence scores as 'extremely difficult' or 'difficult' on most readability scores, and it's just unnecessarily flowery. It was written for the Paris Review subscribers of 1968. I imagine that they found little difficulty in understanding it.
  - d1sxeyes 2y ago
    It was adapted from an interview which took place with Der Spiegel, so I guess it was originally in German, although I haven't found the original. My guess would be there are less complicated translations, but I might be wrong. Regardless, I think you're right, the target audience of this as it's written probably would not have issues understanding it.

vundercind 2y ago

I don’t recall encountering the latest usage until the mid-2010s.

solardev 2y ago

I think the common modern usage of that word is kinda an euphemism for "yucky because they're not woke enough". I've never seen it used outside that context, personally...

dpig_ 2y ago
Caricaturing progressive ideas as some linear scale of 0 - Not Woke, 10 - Wokest is such a lame way to avoid the real points being made on a given subject.
amanaplanacanal 2y ago
If by “not woke enough” you mean racist, sexist, or homophobic, that what I usually assume too.