I’ve never heard it pronounced any other way?
And my point is that being exposed to the word dementia, and taught what it means and how to say it, is no different than being taught how to say Teflon. When you first learn it, it will be a bit awkward. The more you and people around you use it, the more familiar it will become. That just how language works.
What do you propose we use instead of dementia? How would that be a better solution? I’m not against helping people with better accessibility, I just don’t see where this is a problem that can be solved by changing the words used. Especially since to me it seems like we already do what is being suggested in the title post. We already usually have a general term in common conversation in place of the full medical term used by medical professionals.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I never said to change the existing words, I’m just suggesting to do like almost every other word or phrase and have a shorthand, easier to remember/communicate acronym or something.
Imagine actually being a person suffering with brain/memory issues. You know you have a condition, but you can’t remember what the hell the doctor called it to save your life.
That’s fucking embarrassing to them, I’ve seen that firsthand more than once. ☹️
Mesophar@pawb.social 1 day ago
I’m not saying to completely replace it either, but what are examples of words or phrases you think would be a good “shorthand” for dementia? Anything I can think of is either infantilizing or not actually simpler, just different. And needing to learn a new word might be just as difficult, or might be difficult for other people for different reasons.
I can empathize with patients being embarrassed because they can’t pronounce or remember the name of their own condition, but I feel that the condition itself would pose the same issue with other, substitute words as well. It’s sad and tragic, but I don’t think it can be fixed by a change of language.
over_clox@lemmy.world 1 day ago
The existing terms I tend to hear are ‘brain fog’, CRS (can’t remember shit), and for those with a few more braincells still intact, ‘CRAFT’, or Can’t Remember A Fucking Thing.
Yes, I gather that basically any doctor worth their weight in salt should interpret those sort of terms as the patient has brain/memory issues, but isn’t there some easier and less self-insulting term than CRAFT?
Mesophar@pawb.social 12 hours ago
Those are describing symptoms, though, and could be any number of things. No, there are not other terms currently. That’s why I’m asking you, what do you propose? You are the one that sees there being an issue with this that you want to resolve, what terms do you propose that will describe these conditions, distinguish them from other similar but unrelated conditions (a form of dementia vs stroke vs concussion, etc), isn’t insulting, and is easy to remember?