My gripe about “schizophrenic”
I’m feeling a little curmudgeonly today, so I want to talk about the pop-culture use of the word “schizophrenic.” To borrow a phrase from someone I admire and respect, I want to say this to our whole culture: “You keep using this word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”
If you hold opposite beliefs, or do contradictory things, you are not being “schizophrenic.” If you’re a Gemini who loves a great joke but also has a serious side, you are not “schizophrenic.” If you have a taste for both country music and Chopin, you are not “schizophrenic.” The appropriate disease metaphor would be “dissociative-identity disorder,” formerly known as “multiple-personality disorder.” (But then, is it really appropriate to use these serious illnesses as metaphors for ordinary contradictory behaviors?)
Here ends my rant. (And I’m actually in a fairly good mood!) It’s just something that has rankled me for years and years.
UPDATE: A friend tells me that the #2 definition of ‘schizophrenia’ in Webster’s Dictionary is, “noun: the presence of mutually contradictory or antagonistic parts or qualities.” Okay, well, I think they put that in there because people have used the word this way so much that this definition has finally gained official sanction. I see it’s definition #2, though, so I stand by my opinion. (But thanks for the tip, N.!)
