Letter to the Editor: Language counts but dignity is what matters

Does language matter? When I heard an RTÉ journalist referring recently to older people ‘dropping like flies’ because of Covid-19, it made me wince. I did not conclude, however, that he or RTÉ cared less about older people than they do about younger and healthier people. It was just a slip of the tongue of a kind that most ordinary people make every day.

But Dr Éidín Ní Shé, in her letter on behalf of ‘specialists’ — ‘Inappropriate language diminishes older people’ (Irish Examiner, April 24), thinks such language is ‘unacceptable’ and ‘upsetting’. She also tells us that terms like ‘elderly’ and ‘OAP’ are considered stereotypical, ageist, and disrespectful. She does not say by whom they are so considered but I guess she means the ‘specialists’.