Australia bans word 'drought' as too upsetting for farmers

[n2doc]

The word "drought" makes farmers feel depressed and should be replaced with "dryness", a panel of Australian government experts has said.



By Bonnie Malkin in Sydney
Last Updated: 11:47AM BST 23 Oct 2008
The group also warned farmers to get used to the lack of rain because dry conditions are expected to continue.

"Words like drought ... have negative connotations for farm families," a report by the Drought Policy Review Expert Social Panel found.

"There needs to be a new national approach to living with dryness, as we prefer to call it, rather than dealing with drought."

The country is currently in the grip of "the big dry" - a drought which has lasted seven years so far and is crippling the farming sector.

The report into the social effects of the drought found it had eroded farming communities and forced families apart. The weather conditions were also a major cause of depression among farmers, it found.

more:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/3246178/Australia-bans-word-drought-as-too-upsetting-for-farmers.html

[Bicoastal]

1. They're going to call it a "Kawillakamboo."

Australians are so good at naming things...

[Aqaba]

3. Conga-line of suckholes!

One of the best lines to ever come out of Australia IMO.

[Make7]

2. Ahem... the DRYNESS Policy Review Expert Social Panel. ( n/t )

[Mojambo]

4. And... George Carlin does another rotation in his grave. n/t

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

5. Those conditions sound absolutely brutal.

Why can't bailouts be for people like these poor farmers, instead of to replenish the losses of Wall Street gamblers and con artists, who when winning with our money cut us in for NOTHING, and when they lose it through their own greed driven recklessness, require that we make good on their losses?

[jswade]

6. PC

I hate PC terms like that. Call it what it is!

[Indenturedebtor]

9. "PC" is a Rightwing frame and this is a Rightwing censorship policy

so I think this would be more accurately described as a RW (for RightWing) propaganda campaign.

[Doctor Cynic]

10. Maybe that's not true either.

Drought implies a temporary lack of precipitation and water, and that the rains will return.

If this is permanent then you cannot call this a drought.

[Xithras]

12. The proper term is "desertification"

The permanent conversion of land into a desert.

[madeline_con]

7. How do post menopausal Australian women deal with

vaginal drought? :rofl:

[Odin2005]

8. "Dryness"? Sounds like a "personal" problem to me...

[depakid]

11. As often as not, I've heard it referred to as the "big dry"