Since the business at Penn State is back in the news I thought I would re-post this from a previous blog:
I thought it would be appropriate to pile on the Penn State mess for my first blog post. But I wasn't sure that "mess" really conveys all that is involved with this.
So I looked up mess ... "an unpleasant or difficult situation." That seems to be an understatement for the affair.
Affair... I won't even list a definition for that. That just so doesn't fit all the trouble up there.
Trouble... "to disturb the mental calm and contentment of; worry; distress; agitate"... Well that sits a little better considering all the worry and distress and everyone's agitation over the problem.
Problem... "any question or matter involving doubt, uncertainty, or difficulty"... There is certainly a lot of doubt with Penn State's imbroglio.
Imbroglio... "an intricate and perplexing state of affairs; a complicated or difficult situation" ... Again with the "difficult" and "situation" words.
Situation... "the state of affairs; combination of circumstances"... Even when you add "difficult" that doesn't really seem to cover this business.
Business... I went to the twelfth definition of "business" to get this... "of, noting, or pertaining to business, its organization, or its procedures".
I think "business" is the correct label here. Penn State had a systemic failure within its organization to identify, correct and prevent any such "situation" as this. Obviously its procedures were geared to protecting itself, its employees and its reputation from anything and everything. Even the firings this past week were more about protecting the brand than cleaning up this business.
Thanks to Dictionary.com for the definitions.
George
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