Concerns concerning concerning

 No, it’s not gobbledegook. Not any more than these columns usually are, that is.

 For I have concerns (noun) about (preposition) the word, “concerning” (when used as an adjective). Because it’s taken over from our old friend “worrying”. It received a tremendous fillip in the pandemic when serious-faced officials everywhere in the English-speaking world were finding that the latest numbers/variant/crowds were concerning.

 

Concerning became a cliché, a go-to word to end a sentence that the speaker appeared to believe made them sound serious and responsible. It is concerning. We are all concentrating on this problem. It is of concern. OK, but isn’t it rather more than that? In short, worrying?

 

Worrying got thrown on the refuse pile of words-we-don’t-think-are-cool-enough. It happened some years ago when “gave” fell under the bus while “gifted” rode high in the polls. “I gifted my husband some socks for his birthday.” (I did actually write to the newspapers about this one, showing perhaps that my mental state could at times be concerning.)

 

While the rant is in full tide, another contemporary irritant is “mother to X”. Queen Elizabeth is the mother of Prince Andrew, for her sins. She is not mother to him. Perhaps a nanny or elderly retainer was a mother to him when he was a wee prince. To describe a person as a “mother to” or “father to” someone always had the useful subtext that they acted like a parent, even though they were not biologically.

 

“Presently” was another extremely useful word that meant “soon, a short time later”. But, mostly due to the Americans, now it just means “now”.  So we have to write “a short time later” instead of lovely economical “presently”.

 

Concerning means regarding. That should be its main use. Worrying means you furrow your brow and contemplate taking action. As Paul McCartney and Wings sang (Band on the Run), “What’s the use of worrying?” Nowadays, it seems there is little use for the poor word at all.

 

Presently I will have a soothing cup of tea and stop thinking about all these concerning developments.

 

 

 

Comments

  1. Peter Foley31 May 2021 at 07:38

    The OED now lists a secondary definition for 'literally': "used for emphasis while not being literally true." Presently all words will lose their meaning, which is concerning!

    ReplyDelete

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