Using 'Dilemma' Presents a Dilemma by Rob Kyff on Creators.com

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Using 'Dilemma' Presents a Dilemma

Q: I have been taught that a dilemma is a choice between distasteful alternatives. A dilemma is not to choose between a hot fudge sundae and chocolate cake — unless one is a diabetic. Has this "rule" been subsumed by modern usage? — John Shulansky, West Hartford, Conn.

A: I'll take the cake. And in the minds of some linguistic purists, so will my answer.

Traditionally, "dilemma" has been used to describe a difficult choice between two unpleasant alternatives. This notion has been reinforced by the fact that "dilemma" contains the Greek prefix "di-" ("two") and by the popular expression "horns of a dilemma," which conjures the distressing image of a hapless decider being bounced between two sharp horns of an enraged bull. Ole!

The Three Stooges, for instance, faced a true dilemma when they were offered the choice of being beheaded or burned at the stake. (One of them, as I recall, replied that he preferred a hot "steak" to a cold "chop.")

But in recent decades, more and more writers who aren't stooges have been using "dilemma" to describe choices between attractive options. In 1971, for instance, psychologist Bruno Bettelheim wrote that "mothers tend to put themselves in a cruel dilemma. They know they want a life beyond their children, but they also want to be everything to their children." In this case, it's not the choices that are distasteful but the choice itself.

According to the latest edition of the American Heritage Dictionary (AHD), the use of "dilemma" to describe choices among more than two options is also becoming more acceptable.

In 2005, for instance, only 58 percent of the AHD's usage panel rejected the use of "dilemma" with three or more choices. "It seems unlikely," the AHD notes, "that writers will be taken to task for ignoring the two-choice limit."

In fact, many writers now regard "dilemma" as a general synonym for "predicament" or "difficulty," with no reference to alternatives at all. In 1988, for instance, 74 percent of the AHD usage panel rejected the sentence "Juvenile drug abuse is the great dilemma of the 1980s," but by 1999, only 58 percent of the panel disapproved of the similar sentence, "Historically, race has been the great dilemma of democracy."

In the case of "dilemma," common usage seems to be trumping tradition. Soon, writers facing the use of "dilemma" will no longer face a dilemma.

Rob Kyff, a teacher and writer in West Hartford, Conn., invites your language sightings. Send your reports of misuse and abuse, as well as examples of good writing, via e-mail to Wordguy@aol.com or by regular mail to Rob Kyff, Creators Syndicate, 5777 W. Century Blvd., Suite 700, Los Angeles, CA 90045.