WORD WATCH : A Bad Situation

The situation situation has gotten out of hand. Television and radio newscasters report daily on emergency “situations,” SigAlert “situations,” crisis “situations.” If an emergency differs from an emergency situation, we cannot see how.

The print media do no better. A computer search of major newspapers for just the last month fairly chokes with all manner of situations.

There is a conflict situation (in Bosnia, naturally), a troubled fiscal situation in Orange County, a third-and-13 situation in football, an anxiety-filled situation in crime, a mixed-gender situation in the workplace, even a low-traction situation in snow driving.

The Orange County fiscal mess may be hell for municipal bondholders, but a futures market in situations would be booming. The word situation has appeared 100 times or more in Orange County fiscal stories in this newspaper alone just since the crisis was disclosed in early December. Another major newspaper has used the word at least once in nearly 5,000 stories during this year alone.

Alternatives exist: conflict instead of conflict situation , fiscal trouble instead of a troubled fiscal situation , crime anxiety instead of an anxiety-filled situation in crime , low traction instead of a low-traction situation , and so on. Obvious, isn’t it?

Situation is one of those words that has become so overused it has lost nearly all meaning, degenerating into an all-purpose prop that is stuck almost anywhere by lazy writers. Space is extremely limited on the air and in print. Why waste it on linguistic flab?