From Scottishland comes this drivel:
Scotland seeks to ban words like ‘addict’ and ‘alcoholic’ in plan to tackle drug deaths
…to be replaced by?
New guidance published online calls for other words such as “junkie”, “clean” and “substance abuse” to be shunned in favour of “person with problematic drug use”, “person who has stopped using drugs” and “substance use”, respectively.
Nothing like a change in terminology to address the “problem” of drug deaths.
What amuses me about this bureaucratic bowdlerism is that the Scots are renowned for being among the plainest-speaking people on the planet — beating out even Australians — with their often-withering commentary about people and life in general. (Listen to any Billy Connolly rant, for example, to get a taste.)
Imagine Billy describing a junkie using the above terms…