Tag Archives: problems

Problems? Problematics?

87ProblemsProblematic

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This is a particular problem in French language, and many French-speaking locutors are unconsciously copying the English usage of the word problematic.

The adjective form is the same in both languages.

A problematic (noun) is a  thing poses a problem; the word problématique in French means an ensemble of problems linked by a common root cause.

In English the usage is in plural form only: the problematics are the uncertainties or difficulties inherent in a situation or plan.

Example: Something that poses a problem or difficulty: “[a book that] poses the problematics of memory in another light altogether”

So translating this comic has posed a problem!