Chrysti The Wordsmith: Brainstorm - 2

Greetings and welcome to Christie the wordsmith. The word brainstorm has somewhat of a checkered history and has even generated a bit of controversy in the UK recently. When it was coined in the late 19th century brainstorm meant sudden violent disturbance of the mind brainstorms were held responsible for mental instability and fits of rage. Then sometime in the 1920s a brain storm became a sudden creative idea. By the 1950s corporations were organizing brainstorming sessions to generate group creativity. But some English speakers in the UK still use the word in its original sense associating it with seizures in a June 26 2005 edition of The Observer. Editor Henry McDonald reported how brain storm ran afoul of political correctness in Belfast brainstorming MacDonald wrote has been deemed politically incorrect by civil servants because it is thought to be offensive to people with brain disorders. So staff at the Department of enterprise trade and investment

in Belfast will use the term thought showers instead of brainstorming weighing in on that matter. The British Epilepsy Association on the website Epilepsy Action said in referring to the experience of people with epilepsy the term brainstorm may offend but in reference to creative group thinking. Brainstorm is inoffensive. I'm Christie the wordsmith but Dave herbivores Christie the wordsmith is sponsored by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Zoot enterprises a high tech firm in Bozeman Montana offering challenging careers and innovative solutions for the financial services industry. Zoot web dot com.