Problem words
“The words you speak become the house you live in.”
Hafiz
The elders tell us that we must watch the way we speak and write. And it's no wonder. It's easy to fall back on habit, routine and cliche, the language that's handed to us by friends and culture. But sloppy language can breed misunderstanding and perpetuate poor habits of thinking and in turn, behavior. If you're going to be an effective teacher, trainer, coach or therapist, it's essential that you get your language right.
What follows is a list of common words and phrases that can wreak havoc on our attempts to communicate with our clients, patients, listeners and readers.
health
This should be a slam dunk, with no confusion whatsoever. It's from the Old English, of Germanic origin; related to the word whole. But in a radically individualistic society–such as our own–the word becomes corrupted to mean personal or individual health exclusively, as if the individual had no connection or continuity with the wider world. As we tell it, health is all about how the single, isolated person is doing. But this perspective defeats itself because in fact, our bodies are massively connected and influenced by habitat and the people around us. In other words, it's nonsense to talk about health in isolation from the world. So be careful with this one. People are not stand-alone organisms.
paleo
Widely misunderstood and misused. In popular conversation, many people associate Paleo with "the Paleo diet," as in "Your spaghetti dinner is so not Paleo." But this framing misses a vast world of essential knowledge that comes from human ancestry. Strictly speaking, the word Paleolithic refers to "the old Stone Age," the period from the first invention of stone tools to the dawn of agriculture. During that immense era, people lived rich and interesting lives, hunting and gathering, living in complex tribal bands and knowing the natural world in a way we can scarcely imagine today. The word Paleo implies far more than a particular diet; it connects us to a highly participatory world with a life of its own.
exercise
Exercise is a modern invention and a product of industrial culture. As such, it’s historically abnormal. Outside of modern human experience, exercise simply does not exist in the natural world. It's regimented, often robotic and completely unnecessary. What human bodies really need is movement. No one ever died from a lack of exercise, but a lack of movement is a distinct health-negative. When we exercise, we practice a specialization, but when we move we put ourselves back into community with every animal that's ever lived.
fitness
Fitness is a particularly problematic word because it means different things in different contexts. In the world of gyms and sports, fitness suggests cardiovascular and muscular capability. But in the world of biology, it means reproductive success–the ability to generate large numbers of viable offspring. It's essential that you get this right. If you're a personal trainer, physician or coach, leave fitness to the biologists (it's their word after all). Instead, use the words physicality and vitality.
“survival of the fittest”
Extremely confusing and widely abused, especially in athletics and the marketing of high-performance products. Quite simply, this is not how evolution works. As we've seen, success in evolution means reproductive success, the leaving of large numbers of viable offspring. Notably, Darwin himself never used the phrase. Best to ignore it altogether.
wellness
Quite possibly the weakest word in the English language. Wellness is often used as an alternative to the dehumanizing, technological practice of modern biomedicine, but it fails to inspire or move us. The word wellness has almost no history and even worse, it has no blood, no teeth, no claws, no bone. It's a low bar, one that fails to connect to the primal potential that lives in every human and every animal. It's pale and lifeless. Who would you rather sleep with? Someone who's got the power of the biosphere surging through every cell in their body, or someone who's merely well? Look for something more powerful and inspiring.
nature and natural
Massively abused, especially in the world of marketing and sales. In theory, everything under the sun, including all the creations of human beings, are natural. If humans are of nature, then all their creations must be natural as well. Of course, we've got to draw a line somewhere if these words are to have any useful meaning. For example, we might well set a marker at the dawn of agriculture, some 10,000 years ago. Arguably, anything that came before that point was natural, anything that came after is suspect and artificial. We must also remember that natural doesn't necessarily mean healthy; there are plenty of creatures and substances in the natural world that can kill us. In any case, use this world intentionally and sparingly.
wilderness
A particularly interesting word, wilderness is actually a modern construction. In his landmark book Wilderness and the American Mind, author Roderick Nash reminds us that native people simply didn't recognize a place called "wilderness." The land was simply home. In contrast, modern explorers made a distinction between their familiar lands and the vast unknown that lay before them. Of course, some of us cherish the very idea of wilderness and savor the fact that it still exists in some measure, in some places. Just knowing that wild land and creatures are out there brings many of us a sense of comfort.
environment
Environment is very much a white man's word and a regrettable one at that. It objectifies the natural world, casting it as other, outside the body and outside the human domain. Native and indigenous people had no such division and no comparable word. A far better word is habitat. Likewise, the word environmentalist is highly problematic. A better choice is conservationist.
design
Teachers and coaches often say that "the body was designed to do this..." or "the body wasn't designed to do that." But both these statements are problematic because, strictly speaking, the body wasn't designed at all. Evolution simply doesn't work that way. Nature produces extravagant, experimental diversity which is then pruned back by famine, predation, disease, bad weather and other forms of adversity. If you happen to believe that all the plants and animals of the biosphere were in fact created by a superior being at a drawing board, then the word design might be appropriate. Otherwise, "sculpted by evolution" is a better choice.
warrior and hero
Often misused in a sporting or athletic context, as in "he's a real warrior" or "she's a hero." But both warrior and hero imply a strong sense of altruism and the willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the tribe, community or people. In actual practice, this rarely applies in the world of sports. In fact, most athletes–especially modern, professional athletes–aren’t really sacrificing much of anything. At best, an athlete might be a symbolic warrior or hero for a team or school, but that's another thing entirely. The true heroes and warriors of our time are teachers, nurses and activists; people who make genuine personal sacrifices for the common good. Be sure to get this wording right.
sustainable and sustainability
Widely over-used and mis-used. Nothing in nature is truly sustainable or permanent. When we imagine or advertise something as sustainable, we trick ourselves into thinking that the world is predictably stable. But habitats are always in flux and even species have a lifespan. Better words would be longevity or better yet, functional future.