On Monday 3 March 2008, Stroller wrote:
> On 3 Mar 2008, at 09:57, Etaoin Shrdlu wrote:
> > On Monday 3 March 2008, Jan Seeger wrote:
> >> NOTE: I don't speak spanish. But somehow, I read it thusly:
> >> On Mon, 03. Mar, [EMAIL PROTECTED] spammed my inbox with
> >>
> >>> todos los temas relacionados con soporte técnico
> >>
> >> all technical support requests (relations?)
> >
> > all technical support-related issues
> >
> > Ok, not that it changes much... :-)
>
> Noooo! It changes EVERYTHING!!
>
> "Issue" is word to describe an individual periodical in a series of
> publications, and is a weasel-word when it's used as a synonym for
> "problem".
Ok. Literally, the word "tema" (pl. temas) would mean "subject, theme,
topic, matter". The degree of "problematic-ness" intended by whoever
wrote "temas" can't of course be deduced, but only guessed.
In my interpretation, I took "todos los temas relacionados con soporte
técnico" as meaning "anything related to technical support", so issue
seemed an acceptable translation (where "issues" include "problems" as
well, of course).
Also, I've seen many times "if you have issues, call 123456-789". In my
understanding, no doubt I'll call that technical support number if I
have issues, faults or problems (however serious they may be).
But english is not my native language, so I could very well be mistaken
in my understanding.
> Clearly if your computer isn't booting it's a PROBLEM, not merely an
> "issue", so we can tell that the author of the email is engaged in
> the sort of environment where weasel-words are employed.
>
> I have dealt with such technical support departments in the past - I
> knew of one at which the management insisted that staff were not
> allowed to describe a dead PC as a problem because that "sounds too
> downbeat". Such scenarios were to be passed off to the customer as
> merely "an issue" ("however seriously we're addressing your issue,
> sir"), rather than the disaster it actually was.
>
> </pet peeve>
Agreed. I know that kind of environment.
So, are you saying that "issue" means "nuisance" or "minor problem"
rather than "real problem", and using the word to mean "problem" is
incorrect? Or you just hate it when they say "issue" when they really
should say "disaster" (in this case, I totally agree with you)?
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