You don’t want to talk about how people refer to each other in conversation. You want to talk about how mentally ill people can function in society. So why not just say that?
Seems to be quite common in the software business.
I disagree with that STRONGLY, just because you are physically dependent on a substance to function doesn’t mean you put it ahead of your family or children.
There are tons of functional addicts out there raising kids and taking care of their families better than sober people.
And I strongly disagree with you. I’ve known a number of addicts who only thought they were functional and were putting their families ahead of their addiction. Their families knew the truth. And that was the most harmful part of the whole thing.
(Sorry, hot button issue for me. Probably a hot button for you, too.)
(Once you take away the substance, you start to see the real priorities of the addict.)
Anyway–this particular concern about language–and everything about language–always depends on context.
There is no definition that isn’t contingent upon context, so the complaint of the OP is kind of meaningless.
Actually there’s a big difference between use, abuse, and dependence…and the criteria for the latter has to do with functional impairment in life domains, so if there are no negative effects (among other criteria) in no domains, it is likely abuse vs dependence/addiction.
“The Bra cannot be destroyed, living_in_hell, provocative poster of the straight dope, by any crafts that we here possess. The Bra was made in the fires of Doom’s Rack. Only there can It be unmade. It must be taken deep into Cancun and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence It came.”
I’m a recovering alcoholic/addict. I’m not drinking or using drugs right now, but my abuse/dependence has shaped my life in huge ways(not all bad). I am not offended in the least by being called an alcoholic or an addict. It’s true.
I’m a lot of other things, too, and I doubt that anyone who knows me would define me so simply as “that drunk junkie.”
You mean like saying “Canadjun is a paraplegic”? Doesn’t bother me in the slightest. I quite regularly say “I am a paraplegic”. It puzzles me why people get so worried about trying to figure out exactly what phrase of the month to use to refer to someone. I am Canadian. I am semi-retired. I am a SAS programmer. I am paraplegic. I am male. I am NDP. etc. etc. etc.
A bunch of women’s bodies were recently unearthed on Long Island, and in the initial news reports they were referred to as “prostitutes.” This outraged me–they were VICTIMS! I wondered if the same type of designation would have been used for “housewives” or “business women.”
Later reports said “women.”
An episode of Criminal Minds had someone ask why they should spend time finding the serial killer of prostitues.
Policeman: After all, who are these women?
Hotchner: They are daughters. Some of them are sisters and nieces and mothers.