Words that carry weight

The words ‘obese’ and ‘obesity’ may soon be off-limits at Liverpool City Council. The idea is to avoid causing offence, but will they just end up diluting the message?

The proposal, if it goes ahead, would see these words replaced by the term ‘unhealthy weight’ in any literature aimed at children. The idea came from around 90 nine to eleven year-olds of the Liverpool Schools’ Parliament, who see using ‘obese’ as too negative, and potentially disheartening for the young people it may describe.

It’s often a good move to swap more clinical or jargon-like words for everyday alternatives which are more accessible to your audience, but sometimes you risk losing the full meaning behind the original choice. Some see this as a worrying move: clinically, being obese is much more serious than merely being overweight. This substitution is ‘just fudging the problem’ says Tam Fry, of the Child Growth Foundation. ‘Unfortunately sometimes schoolchildren have to be taught the realities of life.’

Let us know what you think. Is this a sensible plan to protect children, or just too PC?

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Author: Catie Holdridge

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Catie joined Emphasis with an English literature and creative writing degree and a keen interest in what makes language work. Having researched, written, commissioned and edited dozens of articles for the Emphasis blog, she now knows more about the intricacies of effective professional writing than she ever thought possible.

She produced and co-wrote our online training programme, The Complete Business Writer, and these days oversees all the Emphasis marketing efforts. And she keeps office repartee at a suitably literary level.