What fly bites the French?
They like a word, a verb, or a phrase, and use it all the time.
However, restraint is required when handling the verb:
"There is a measure in all things, and knowing how to grasp it at the right time is the first of science"
affirmed Thémistocles.
Just as language tics parasitize our speech, certain words keep coming back to our mouths, and impoverish our language.
The verb "to stigmatize" has long been used for a yes or a no in our sentences.
The Académie Française recalls that the author Dupré affirmed as early as 1972 that this verb was "heavy, pretentious and overused."
Hot iron and scars
"I was stigmatized by his sentence", "the population is stigmatized by these words", we often hear.
It is undoubtedly useful to recall that this verb was originally used in the past participle, "to qualify a person who bore marks, scars, or who had been branded with a hot iron as punishment for some crime", underline the academicians.
Let us admit that few people these days suffer such a punishment ... The word is certainly not well chosen to say of someone that he has felt hurt or condemned.
The stigmata of the Christian faith
The word "stigma" has subsequently designated Christ-like wounds, which some mystics carry at regular intervals on the hands, feet and right side.
Excessive employment undoubtedly comes from its figurative meaning: “to mark infamy, to condemn, to castigate”, underlines the Academy.
Let us try to be parsimonious in the use of this word, and prefer to use the verbs "to criticize" or "to blame".
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