‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ (Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll)
On page 155 Joshua Freeman challenges us all not to become modern day Humpty Dumptys when using the word ‘holism’. He makes a worthy attempt to tie the meaning down, but I fear that those who care about such things will need to exercise constant vigilance. Now that ‘holistic’ is seen as being a component of good medicine it's easy for practitioners to claim that they practice holistically without being required to justify the statement, and rarely will anyone else be willing to challenge them. Similarly, evidence-based medicine, or, the latest addition to the short list of words that the BJGP treats with suspicion, ‘empower’. Neville Goodman, an inveterate campaigner …